Page:The roamer and other poems (1920).djvu/116

106 I met them in the highways of the world,

Maiden and youth and child, hero and saint,

Sweetened by duty, crowned by sacrifice,

And most that glory rested on the poor;—

The changeless type more easily discerned,

Made flesh. So love had taught my mortal eyes."

The sun had sunk, and left a winter light,

Pure emerald, lucid in the delicate deep,

Transparent, crystalline, save where the peak

Clothed the pale North with an outstretching glow,

And the far East was barred with crimson flakes.

"More than the object doth the eye avail,

If but the sight be pure," that fair guest spoke,

And more his gentle smile left unexpressed;

"With such a light is every mortal born,

As well thou provest in thy wanderings;

And if he follow the all-heavenly ray,

He shall behold, though far, the Mount Divine,

The Mount of Vision, where my dwelling is,

The place of the Transfiguration old.

Lift up thy eyes, and see! lo, I am he,

The angel of the Intercessors called,

And in my charge all things of beauty are.

Swift must my going be out of thy sight,

Brief my farewell." He nigh the Roamer drew,

And touched his flesh, and raised his eyelids up