By Siloa’s rapt bard, whose visual orbs

Were quenched in the intenser brilliancy

Of Truth’s divinest radiance, that absorbs

All lesser brightness; thus I mused of thee;

But when I saw thee, fair as Hope’s young dream,

Freshness like Morning’s on thy brow and cheek,

Through which the soul’s celestial light doth beam

As through a sculptured vase, I felt how weak

Are images of manhood’s pride and fame

That birth-right’s priceless value to proclaim,