Page:The city of dreadful night - and other poems (IA cityofdreadfulni00thomrich).pdf/73

 The shining plumes that clothe thy feet are bound By knotted strings, as if to tread the ground With weary steps when thou wouldst soar elate.

Twin heavens uplifted to the heavens, thine eyes Are solemn with unutterable thought And love and aspiration; yet there lies Within their light eternal sadness, wrought By hope deferred and baffled tenderness: Of all the souls whom thou dost love and bless, How few revere and love thee as they ought!

Thou leadest heroes from their warfare here To nobler fields where grander crowns are won; Thou leadest sages from this twilight sphere To cloudless heavens and an unsetting sun; Thou leadest saints into that purer air Whose breath is spiritual life and prayer: Yet, lo! they seek thee not, but fear and shun!

Thou takest to thy most maternal breast Young children from the desert of this earth, Ere sin hath stained their souls, or grief opprest, And bearest them unto an heavenly birth,