Part 9 (2/2)

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.

s.h.i.+ne 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 s.h.i.+ning 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 s.h.i.+ning, 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

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