Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/477

THE STAR BEARER THE STAR BEARER

were seven angels erst that spanned

Heaven's roadway out through space,

Lighting with stars, by God's command,

The fringe of that high place

Whence plumèd beings in their joy,

The servitors His thoughts employ,

Fly ceaselessly. No goodlier band

Looked upward to His face.

There, on bright hovering wings that tire

Never, they rested mute,

Nor of far journeys had desire,

Nor of the deathless fruit;

For in and through each angel soul

All waves of life and knowledge roll,

Even as to nadir streamed the fire

Of their torches resolute.

They lighted Michael's outpost through

Where fly the armored brood,

And the wintry Earth their omens knew

Of Spring's beatitude;

Rude folk, ere yet the promise came,

Gave to their orbs a heathen name,

Saying how steadfast in men's view

The watchful Pleiads stood.

All in the solstice of the year,

When the sun apace must turn,

The seven bright angels 'gan to hear

Heaven's twin gates outward yearn:

Forth with its light and minstrelsy

A lordly troop came speeding by, 447