I.

Whene'er those sainted sounds I hear,
A Sylph flies round my youthful heart,
To guard it well from LOVE , for fear
I should unknowing with it part.
Blest Sylph, whene'er a radiant eye,
Or rosy cheek'd soft glancing fair,
Awakes my bosom's warmest sigh,
Watch well my heart, and linger there.

II.

Those sacred Isles, that frowning lie
On Scotia's rocky Western shore,

God said; responsive silence caught the words
And hid them in her heart, as night the stars.

Glowing and sparkling in the life-rayed sun
Of the celestial firmament, glided up
On pinions wide of playful lightnings poised,
That sphere Elysian consummate in bliss,
And all the angels thereto bent their gaze
As stars in nightly council watch the earth.

Then looked and saw, three paces from the light,
'Midst of that pure and renovated orb,
Beside the gardened bank of a bright stream,
A fair and lofty lady, clad in robes

Morn, like a maiden glancing o'er her pearls,
Streamed o'er the manna-dew, as though the ground
Were sown with starseed; — and the angels rose,
Each from his hallowed couch, and — duly made
The sole oblation of the heart to God —
Stood ready for departure; taking leave,
For a brief space, of their beloved compeers;
With many an ardent longing for the way,
As yet untried — 'neath such sweet leadership.

At length the last embrace, last look, exchanged,
High upward the bright bevy, like to light
Out of the crowned north, — shot; on and on,

A voice then spake —
The voice of one joy-hearted, soft and clear
As bells at early morn, on that blest day,
Named in the breast-laws of each starry orb,
Wherein Eternity entwines with Time
Its golden strands and weds the world to Heaven; —
Arise! come forth, beloved sister, rise.

How blest am I to serve thee, to release!
Nor doubt, nor wait. Behold thy handmaid me.
Gifts bring I for thee, gifts of countless price —
Of priceless worth. Thy lover Lord commands
Array thee for the bridals. Lo! the new

Midst this fiery woe, —
Struck suddenly, as out of vertical space, —
Once more the blazing swordstar shewed in Heaven;
Which many, fearful, deemed, if brandished then
By the same hand as first, would cleave in twain
Their self accursed sphere, and hurl its dust,
With them, for aye, into the deadly void.

Near and more near on waves of light it rode,
Swiftly triumphing, and with blinding beam,
Till full above the centre of the orb —
The conflagration of the sphere self-quelled,
As though in presence of a mightier power —

How changed from that bright orb
The rolling skies had erst rejoiced to see;
Whereto the orient sun was wont to send,
As to some eaglet orb that loved the light,
His earliest beam to wake his welcomer —
Signal to all of worship! Now, alas!
Cloaked in impenetrable night it glode
A black abomination through the skies,
A reptile world abhorred of all and shunned.
Then fire was used for light, and each one bare
With him a pitchy torch which reeked of hell;
Supplied by those deceptive guests who now —

No sooner came
I to the seat, in right opposal placed,
To that despotic empress, than they urged
Me to revivify the hateful frame —
The incarnation of that fleshly hell,
I had, for her sake whom I loved, destroyed; —
But once for all their quest refused; whereat,
The throned one brake her sceptre in her wrath,
And cried, — Have done with him! I own him not,
And have forsworn him. Let him die his death.

Thereto I answered not — within myself
Secretly praying but that God would make
The spirit fair concordant with the form,

Wide o'er the waters rose a wail of woe
With a fierce shout of exultation twined —
For chained to a dark rock, rough and high, the sea
Was loathly yielding back to land, — there stood —
Arrayed in Paradisal purity
Alone, that meek and innocent angel-maid; —
The monster wading greedily through the waves,
Her to devour; — the angels, some aghast,
Exulting some; her sister as half-dead
Fell fainting from her seat; the light alone
Of falling stars, with blinks of lightning mixed,
Lamping the red horizon fitfully.

First to speak
Was one, the last who lapsed from pure estate.

Be this the god ye serve? — The god ye sware
That we should this day see? — Our god, said they.

And are we bound to adore him who have passed
Through your mysterious rules and on us ta'en
His worship by the oath of fire?

Ye are,
In tones of hate replied the spirit chief,
By whom that wise one told of, late, was lost —
There standing as the hierophant of hell; —
Behold, ye are before him — bow the knee.

Arise, he cried,
Sternly. And wherefore? said the angel guest; —
In wise and happy idlesse, half divine,
Those live who how to spend their life know best;
Our rest is contemplation: worship our
Sole work. The weak alone unceasingly
Devote themselves to action; but for us,
We mightiest are in rest. This eve return —
And I will show thee that we worship here.

What more, in speech, hath never been divulged;
But neither was it much. Away he turned —
His heart assaulted by a storm of thought.