XXVII.—THE MARTYRDOM OF ST. AGNES.
DE VERE.
Aubrey De Vere is one of the most gifted and accomplished of living poets.
ANGELS.
1. Bearing lilies in our bosom,
Holy Agnes, we have flown
Missioned from the Heaven of Heavens
Unto thee, and thee alone.
We are coming, we are flying,
To behold thy happy dying.
AGNES.
2. Bearing lilies far before you,
Whose fresh odors, backward blown,
Light those smiles upon your faces,
Mingling sweet breath with your own,
Ye are coming smoothly, slowly,
To the lowliest of the lowly.
ANGELS.
3. Unto us the boon was given;
One glad message, holy maid,
On the lips of two blest spirits,
Like an incense-grain was laid.
As it bears us on like lightning,
Cloudy skies are round us brightening.
AGNES.
4. I am here, a mortal maiden:
If our father aught hath said,
Let me hear His words and do them.
Ought I not to feel afraid,
As ye come, your shadows flinging
O’er a breast, to meet them springing?
ANGELS.
5. Agnes, there is joy in Heaven;
Gladness, like the day, is flung
O’er the spaces never measured,
And from every angel’s tongue
Swell those songs of impulse vernal,
All whose echoes are eternal.
6. Agnes, from the depth of Heaven
Joy is rising, like a spring
Borne above its grassy margin,
Borne in many a crystal ring;
Each o’er beds of wild flowers gliding,
Over each low murmurs sliding.
7. When a Christian lies expiring,
Angel choirs, with plumes outspread,
Bend above his death-bed, singing:
That, when Death’s mild sleep is fled,
There may be no harsh transition
While he greets the Heavenly Vision.
AGNES.
8. Am I dreaming, blessed angels?
Late ye floated two in one;
Now, a thousand radiant spirits
Round me weave a glistening zone.
Lilies, as they wind extending,
Roses with those lilies blending.
9. See! th’ horizon’s ring they circle;
Now they gird the zenith blue;
And now, o’er every brake and billow
Float like mist and flash like dew.
All the earth, with life o’erflowing,
Into heavenly shapes is growing!
10. They are rising! they are rising!
As they rise, the veil is riven!
They are rising! I am rising—
Rising with them into Heaven!—
Rising with those shining legions
Into life’s eternal regions!