And when thou didst depart, no car of flame To bear thee hence in lambent radiance came; Nor visible Angels mourned with drooping plumes: Nor didst thou mount on high From fatal Calvary [tombs With all thine own redeemed outbursting from their For thou didst bear away from earth But one of human birth, The dying felon by thy side, to be Nor o'er thy cross the clouds of vengeance brake ; At that foul deed by her fierce children done; The world in darkness lay; Then basked in bright repose beneath the cloudless sun. Ere yet the white robed Angel shone And when thou didst arise, thou didst not stand Thy mother's coming feet, And bear the words of peace unto the faithful few. Into thy native skies; Thy human form dissolved on high FROM "THE MARTYR OF ANTIOCH." FABIUS. Cease, Calanthias, cease; And thou, Charinus. Oh, my brethren, God That break upon the shore of this our world, Beloved brethren, And ye, our sisters, hold we all prepared, Lik him beside whose hallowed grave we stand, To give the .ast and awful testimony To Christ our Lord. Yet tempt nct to our murder The yet unbloody hands of men. They come Pale lights are gleaning through the dusky night, And hurrying feet are trampling to and fro. By clear Orontes, where so oft we've met, CALLIAS. and yet she stands unblasted! In thy mercy Thou dost remember all my faithful vows, Hyperion! and suspend the fiery shaft That quivers on thy string. Ah, not on her, My pure and blameless child. Shine forth, shine forth MAGARITA. 'Tis over now-and oh, I bless thee, Lord, For making me thus desolate below; For severing one by one the ties that bind me To this cold world, for whither can earth's outcasts Fly but to heaven? Yet is no way but this, None but to steep my father's lingering days In bitterness? Thou knowest, gracious Lord For thou didst die for me, oh Son of God! Alone, on God's right hand, Before the ages were, the Eternal, eldest born. Thy birthright in the world was pain and grief, In peace, tongue cannot tell, Nor heart conceive the bliss of thy celestial state. They dragged thee to the Roman's solemn Hall, In final ruin hurled, With all mankind to hear their everlasting fate. Thou wert alone in that fierce multitude, When "Crucify him!" yelled the general shout; Whose lightest whispered word The Seraphim had heard, And adamantine arms from all the heavens broke out. They bound thy temples with the twisted thorn, Was the unapproached light, The sandal of whose foot the rapid hurricane. They smote thy cheek with many a ruthless palm, With the cold spear thy shuddering side they pierced; They gave, t'enhance thy unslaked, burning thirst: Did pain and anguish cease, And the long buried dead their bonds of slumber burst. Low bowed thy head convulsed, and, drooped in death, Slow struggled from thy breast the parting breath, That head, whose veilless blaze Filled angels with amaze, When at that voice sprang forth the rolling suns or high. |