Page:The roamer and other poems (1920).djvu/133

Rh Smiles from its ruins; on the rocky verge

The past gleams visionary; in the noon I see

Prone columns and huge capitals o'erthrown,

A tract of marble desolation piled,

Edged by the bright sea where I tasted death."

Even to the Roamer's self the landscape round,

As when the wind breathes on a field of wheat

And lifts the poppies, laughter of the spring,

Seemed by the dying gleam of time o'erswept;

An instant—such illusion is in words—

He saw the symbol of the mighty world

Fading away, lost, recordless, annulled;

Then, waking from the momentary trance

And shadowy seizure dim, he knew himself;

Bright o'er him soared the sweet, eternal sky,

The home and eyrie of the bird of time

Forever,—"O calm, ageless blue," he cried,

Our house of life and temple of our faith,

What destinies unroll in thee agelong!"

He turned unto the desert prince, inspired:

"Fortunate is he born who lifts his land

Up to the heights of greatness, his bright death

Immortal, in its glory who expires!

He has advanced the world, whate'er his day,

And on his shoulders borne the orb of fate

Up the steep slopes of time unto God's feet.