As duty bound him,—With the break of day
Came self-renouncement to Egidio;
And in amaze to greet his ashen face
The sacristan laid out for him the alb
And chasuble of Requiem; resigned,
Like some bowed reed the storm has swept by night,
He took the chalice, veiled it ’gainst his breast,
And ’mid the first faint glimmer down the nave
Crept forth unto his mystic Calvary.