Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/450

VARIOUS POEMS In learnèd Alexandria

By the stone altar's side:—

The wild monks slew her, as she lay

At the feet of the Crucified.

Yet in a prairie-town, one night,

I found her lecture-hall,

Where bench and dais stood aright,

And statues graced the wall,

And pendent brazen lamps the light

Of classic days let fall.

A throng that watched the speaker's face,

And on her accents hung,

Was gathered there: the strength, the grace

Of lands where life is young

Ceased not, I saw, with that blithe race

From old Pelasgia sprung.

No civic crown the sibyl wore,

Nor academic tire,

But shining skirts, that trailed the floor

And made her stature higher;

A written scroll the lecturn bore,

And flowers bloomed anigh her.

The wealth her honeyed speech had won

Adorned her in our sight;

The silkworm for her sake had spun

His cincture, day and night;

With broider-work and Honiton

Her open sleeves were bright.

But still Hypatia's self I knew,

And saw, with dreamy wonder,

The form of her whom Cyril slew

(See Kingsley's novel, yonder) 420