266
A LAY OF THE EARLY ROSE.
"What angel, but would seem
To sensual eyes, ghost-dim?
And without assimilation,
Vain is inter-penetration!
To sensual eyes, ghost-dim?
And without assimilation,
Vain is inter-penetration!
"And thus, what can we do,
Poor rose and poet too,
Who both antedate our mission
In an unprepared season?
Poor rose and poet too,
Who both antedate our mission
In an unprepared season?
"Drop leaf—be silent song—
Cold tilings we come among!
We must warm them, we must warm them,
Ere we ever hope to charm them.
Cold tilings we come among!
We must warm them, we must warm them,
Ere we ever hope to charm them.
"Howbeit" (here his face
Lightened around the place,—
So to mark the outward turning
Of his spirit's inward burning)—
Lightened around the place,—
So to mark the outward turning
Of his spirit's inward burning)—
"Something, it is, to hold
In God's worlds manifold,
First revealed to creature-duty,
Some new form of His mild Beauty!
In God's worlds manifold,
First revealed to creature-duty,
Some new form of His mild Beauty!
"Whether that form respect
The sense or intellect,
Holy be in soul or pleasance,
The Chief Beauty's sign of presence!
The sense or intellect,
Holy be in soul or pleasance,
The Chief Beauty's sign of presence!
"Holy, in me and thee,
Rose fallen from the tree,—
Though the world stand dumb around us,
All unable to expound us!
Rose fallen from the tree,—
Though the world stand dumb around us,
All unable to expound us!
"Though none us deign to bless,
Blessed are we, nathless!
Blessed still, and consecrated,
In that, rose, we were created.
Blessed are we, nathless!
Blessed still, and consecrated,
In that, rose, we were created.
