In wandering clouds of sunny rain that Low-kneeling at the feet of Destiny A fourth now waits: assemble, sons of Fiercest and mightiest, mingled both, Upon the name of Freedom; from the Of Him who sends thee forth, whate'er Of faction, which like earthquake shakes Speed, spare not to accomplish, and be And as the Heavens and the Earth To swallow all delight, all life, all hope. Go, thou Vicegerent of my will, no arrayed Their presence in the beauty and the light Of thy first smile, O Father, as they gather The spirit of thy love which paves for them Their path o'er the abyss, till every Shall be one living Spirit, so shall less Than of the Father's; but lest thou shouldst faint, The winged hounds, Famine and Pestilence, Shall wait on thee, the hundred-forked Insatiate Superstition still shall . Satan. Be as all things beneath the Above, and Fraud shall gape below, and Mine! Art thou eyeless like old Des- Shall flit before thee on her dragon Thou mockery-king, crowned with a Convulsing and consuming, and I add Three vials of the tears which demons wreath of thorns? Whose sceptre is a reed, the broken reed Which pierces thee! whose throne a chair of scorn; weep When virtuous spirits through the gate of Death Pass triumphing over the thorns of life, For seest thou not beneath this crystal Sceptres and crowns, mitres and swords Which our great Father then did arbi- Then pour it forth, and men shall gather trate ashes. Which he assigned to his competing The second Tyranny sons Each his apportioned realm? Thou Destiny, Christ. Obdurate spirit! Thou seest but the Past in the To come. Thou who art mailed in the omnipotence | Pride is thy error and thy punishment. Boast not thine empire, dream not that thy worlds Or could the morning shafts of purest light Are more than furnace-sparks or rain-Again into the quivers of the Sun bow-drops Be gathered-could one thought from its wild flight Return into the temple of the brain Without a change, without a stain,- Could aught that is, ever again A star has fallen upon the earth With beams as keen as those which 'Mid the benighted nations, pierced the shadow Of Christian night rolled back upon the West When the orient moon of Islam rode in triumph From Tmolus to the Acroceraunian snow. Wake, thou Word Of God, and from the throne of Destiny Even to the utmost limit of thy way May Triumph Be thou a curse on them whose creed Divides and multiplies the most high The thin and painted garment of the Which led from the cathedral to the And ever as she went her light fair feet Ginevra saw her lover, and forbore Rushing upon her heart, and unsubdued The bride-maidens who round her Said-"Friend, if earthly violence or Suspicion, doubt, or the tyrannic will Of parents, chance, or custom, time or change, Or circumstance, or terror, or revenge, Or wildered looks, or words, or evil speech, Making her but an image of the thought, News of the terrors of the coming time. With all their stings and venom can Whose dying eyes reproach not to the Our love, we love not:-if the grave The pale betrayer-he then with vain which hides The victim from the tyrant, and divides Imperious inquisition to the heart Beckon thee to Gherardi's bridal bed? Of broken vows, but she with patient look The golden circle from her finger took, And said "Accept this token of my faith, The pledge of vows to be absolved by death; With open eyes and folded hands she lay, And I am dead or shall be soon-my | Pale in the light of the declining day. knell Will mix its music with that merry bell, Meanwhile the day sinks fast, the sun is set, Does it not sound as if they sweetly And in the lighted hall the guests are 'We toll a corpse out of the marriage The beautiful looked lovelier in the light The flowers upon my bridal chamber strewn Will serve unfaded for my bier- -so Kindling a momentary Paradise. soon That even the dying violet will not die And quenched the crimson life upon her cheek, And glazed her eyes, and spread an atmosphere Round her, which chilled the burning noon with fear, solitude; On frozen hearts the fiery rain of wine met, To part too soon, but never to forget. |