May Carols Part 9

X.

Alas! not only loveliest eyes, And brows with lordliest l.u.s.tre bright, But Nature's self--her woods and skies-- The credulous heart can cheat or blight.

And why? Because the sin of man Twixt Fair and Good has made divorce; And stained, since Evil first began, That stream so heavenly at its source.

O perishable vales and groves!

Your master was not made for you; Ye are but creatures: human loves Are to the great Creator due.

And yet, through Nature's symbols dim, There are with keener sight that pierce The outward husk, and reach to Him Whose garment is the universe.

For this to earth the Saviour came In flesh; in part for this He died; That man might have, in soul and frame, No faculty unsanctified.

That Fancy's self--so prompt to lead Through paths disastrous or defiled-- Upon the Tree of Life might feed; And Sense with Soul be reconciled.

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_Idolatria._

XI.

The fancy of an age gone by, When Fancy's self to earth declined, Still thirsting for Divinity, Yet still, through sense, to G.o.dhead blind,

Poor mimic of that Truth of old, The patriarchs' hope--a faith revealed-- Compressed its G.o.d in mortal mould, The prisoner of Creation's field.

Nature and Nature's Lord were one!

Then countless G.o.ds from cloud and stream Glanced forth; from sea, and moon, and sun: So ran the pantheistic dream.

And thus the All-Holy, thus the All-True, The One Supreme, the Good, the Just, Like mist was scattered, lost like dew, And vanished in the wayside dust.

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Mary! through thee the idols fell: When He the nations longed for [Footnote 1] came-- True G.o.d yet Man--with man to dwell, The phantoms hid their heads for shame.

[Footnote 1: "The Desire of the Nations."]

His place or thine removed, ere long The bards would push the sects aside; And lifted by the might of song Olympus stand re-edified.

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_Tota Pulchra._

XII.

A broken gleam on wave and flower-- A music that in utterance dies-- O Poets, and O Men! what more Is all that Beauty which ye prize?

And ah! how oft Corruption works Through that brief Beauty's force or wile!

How oft a gloom eternal lurks Beneath an evanescent smile!

But thou, serene and smiling light Of every grace redeemed from Sense, In thee all harmonies unite That charm a pure Intelligence.

Whatever teaches mind or heart To G.o.d by loveliest types to mount, Mary, is thine. Of each true Art The parent art thou, and the fount.

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Those pictures, fair as moon or star, The ages dear to Faith brought forth, Formed but the illumined calendar Of her, that Church which knows thy worth.

Not less doth Nature teach through thee That mystery hid in hues and lines: Who loves thee not hath lost the key To all her sanctuaries and shrines.

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_Stella Matutina._

XIII.

Shine out, O Star, and sing the praise Of that unrisen Sun whose glow Thus feeds thee with thine earlier rays-- The secret of thy song we know.

Thou sing'st that Sun of Righteousness, Sole light of this benighted globe, Whose beams, reflected, dressed and dress His Mother in her shining robe.

Pale Lily, pearled around with dew, Lift high that heaven-illumined vase, And sing the glories ever new Of her, G.o.d's chalice, "full of grace."

Cerulean Ocean, fringed with white, That wear'st her colours evermore, In all thy pureness, all thy might, Resound her name from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e.

That fringe of foam, when drops the sun To-night, a sanguine stain shall wear:-- Thus Mary's heart had strength, alone, The pa.s.sion of her Lord to share.

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_Janua Coeli._

XIV.

The night through yonder cloudy cleft, With many a lingering last regard, Withdraws--but slowly--and hath left Her mantle on the dewy sward.

The lawns with silver dews are strewn; The winds lie hushed in cave and tree; Nor stirs a flower, save one alone That bends beneath the earliest bee.

Peace over all the garden broods; Pathetic sweets the thickets throng; Like breath the vapour o'er the woods Ascends--dim woods without a song:

Or hangs, a shining, fleece-like ma.s.s O'er half yon lake that winds afar Among the forests, still as gla.s.s, The mirror of that Morning Star