Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/215

Rh VI

And fairer still than all,—chief sign of all,—

The naked loveliness in Eden's bower,

Whose flesh blusht back the tint of fruit and flower;

Whose eye reflamed the starlight; who could call

Father and friend the God

That pluckt them from the sod;

The Almighty's image, and Creation's hight;

Whose deep souls mirrored clear the circling day and night.

VII

Spirit of Beauty! 'neath thy joyful spell

Man hath been ever; therefore doth each breeze

Bring to his trancèd ears glad melodies,—

Voices of birds, the brook's low, silvery bell,—

Wild music manifold,

Which he hath power to hold

His own enchanted harmonies among,

That echo round the world the songs that nature sung.

VIII

And thus all Beautiful in Holiness

Doth Israel stand before the Eternal One;

Striking his harp with rapt, angelic tone,

Till tribes and nations the Unseen God confess;

Knowing that only where

His face makes white the air

Could such seraphic song have mortal birth,

One saving faith sublime to keep alive on earth.

IX

And therefore with most passionate desire

And longing, man yearned ever to express

Thy majesty, and light, and loveliness,