Classic Poem

O WONDROUS lustre of the mountain snow,
By sacred morning's light of gold inform'd,
By golden morning's blessed light illumed,
By magian light on all the airless crests—
Whatever storms may vex the world below,
Whatever clouds may darken earth and sea—
On those proud peaks, through all and all illumed!

O saffron light of morning, on such hills
The weeping angels watch with straining eyes,
While Christ still tarries in the House of Death!
Break, Rose of Morning, break in bright array:
Thy fragrance fills the spaces of the air,
Thy blush uplights the future! And, meseems,
It floods my house of life for evermore—
A glory of holy soul!
The start is made:
Light, beauty, lead; and lead, thou hand of God;
Call earth and sky; calls mystic sea profound;
Life calls and death. The shining Crown of Life
And thine uplifted nature's secret heights
My strengthen'd spirit to achieve sets out,
Saint Israfel!