Page:Pleasant Memories.pdf/221

Where thou didst sing of Him, who should prepare
Thy pasture, and by living waters lead,
And the unslumbering Shepherd of thy soul
Be evermore.
                     And then there seemed to pass
In shadowy host the great of other days,
Arm linked in arm, in high communion sweet,
Blessing the haunts where Learning forged for them
Imperishable armor!
                              But we turned
From their entrancing company, to walk
Among the living, and to scan the tomes
In halls and alcoves hoarded, row on row,
Which in their plenitude might half confuse
The arithmetician's skill; and see the light
With rainbow pencil through the storied panes
Of old St. Magdalen, so solemnly
Teach the cold pavement of the things of heaven,
A tender, tinted lesson, which the heart
Sometimes in deeper flintiness receives,
Unkindled, unreflected. Next, to hear
St. Mary's wondrous chant, at evening hour,
As though the earth to angels bade good night,
And they replied, hosanna; then, to stand
Beneath the pure eye of the watching stars,
Where on the winds their eddying ashes rose,
Who earthly mitre for a martyr's crown
In flames exchanged.
                              Methought the scene returned