Why shakes your bosom ?
Why does glory
flame
A crown,
a cincture?
What befell you there?
Tannhauser.
I came to Rome across the winter snows
Barefoot, and through the lovely watered land
Rich in the sunshine—even unto Rome.
There knelt I with the other sinful folk
At the great chair of Peter.
Sobbed they out
From full repentant hearts their menial sins,
And got them peace.
But
1 told brutally
(Cynical
phrase,
contempt of self and him)
My sojourn
in the Venusberg
; then he
Rose in his wrath, and shook the barren staff
Over my head,
and cried— I heard his voice
Most like the dweller of the hurricane
Calm, small,
and still, directing desolation
;
Death to the world athwart its path.— So he
Cried out upon me " Till this barren staff
Take life, and bud, and blossom,
and
bear fruit,
And shed
sweet
scent — so long God casteth
thee
Out from His glory !"
Stricken,
smitten,
slain—
When—one unknown,
a pilgrim
with the rest.
Darting long rugged fingers and deep
eyes.
Reached to the sceptre with his word and will —
Buds, roses, blossoms !
Lilies of the Light
!
Bloom, bloom, the fragrance shed upon the air !
^i7