Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis
Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis Poems MacCarthy, Florence Denis
212 Surrounded by the starry seven, So comes God's greatest work, the sun, Upborne upon the clouds of heaven, In pomp, and majesty, and power. The virgin snowdrop bends its head Above its grave in grateful prayer; The daisy lifts its radiant brow, With a saint's glory round it shed; The violet's worth, unhidden now, Is wafted wide by every air. The parent stem reclasps once more Its long-lost severed buds and leaves; Once more the tender tendrils twine Around the forms they clasped of yore The very rain is now a sign Great Nature's heart no longer grieves. And now the judgment-hour arrives, And now their final doom they know; No dreadful doom is theirs whose birth Was not more stainless than their lives; 'Tis Goodness calls them from the earth, And Mercy tells them where to go. Some of them fly with glad accord, Obedient to the high behest, To worship with their fragrant breath Around the altars of the Lord; And some, from nothingness and death, Pass to the heaven of beauty's breast. Oh, let the simple fancy be Prophetic of our final doom; Grant us, O Lord, when from the sod Thou deign'st to call us too, that we Pass to the bosom of our God From the dark nothing of the tomb!
213 THE FIRST OF THE ANGELS. Hush! hush! through the azure expanse of the sky Comes a low, gentle sound, 'twixt a laugh and a sigh; And I rise from my writing, and look up on high, And I kneel, for the first of God's angels is nigh! Oh, how to describe what my rapt eyes descry! For the blue of the sky is the blue of his eye; And the white clouds, whose whiteness the snowflakes outvie, Are the luminous pinions on which he doth fly! And his garments of gold gleam at times like the pyre Of the west, when the sun in a blaze doth expire; Now tinged like the orange, now flaming with fire! Half the crimson of roses and purple of Tyre. And his voice, on whose accents the angels have hung, He himself a bright angel, immortal and young, Scatters melody sweeter the green buds among Than the poet e'er wrote, or the nightingale sung. It comes on the balm-bearing breath of the breeze, And the odours that later will gladden the bees, With a life and a freshness united to these, From the rippling of waters and rustling of trees. Like a swan to its young o'er the glass of a pond, So to earth comes the angel, as graceful and fond; While a bright beam of sunshine--his magical wand, Strikes the fields at my feet, and the mountains beyond. They waken--they start into life at a bound-- Flowers climb the tall hillocks, and cover the ground With a nimbus of glory the mountains are crown'd, As the rivulets rush to the ocean profound. There is life on the earth, there is calm on the sea, And the rough waves are smoothed, and the frozen are free; And they gambol and ramble like boys, in their glee,
- Page 161 and 162: 161 Dark was my dream, though many
- Page 163 and 164: 163 Feel life has but one disaster,
- Page 165 and 166: 165 Who all the spring-time of thy
- Page 167 and 168: 167 We must spend the hour that fli
- Page 169 and 170: 169 The last great champion of the
- Page 171 and 172: 171 To be hushed, to be whipt, Its
- Page 173 and 174: 173 March 11th, 1856. 107. It is st
- Page 175 and 176: 175 A glorious wreath my happy hand
- Page 177 and 178: 177 Thine emerald robes are held fo
- Page 179 and 180: 179 Let us seek the wandering May,
- Page 181 and 182: 181 The wing`ed flame to the rosebu
- Page 183 and 184: 183 Of the life that follows this,
- Page 185 and 186: 185 Is with the flowers the time of
- Page 187 and 188: 187 Or following its devious course
- Page 189 and 190: 189 In Andalusia's Eden clime, Or '
- Page 191 and 192: 191 One, who is labour's useful tra
- Page 193 and 194: 193 Supports the mightiest crown on
- Page 195 and 196: 195 They twin'd their trembling han
- Page 197 and 198: 197 And grateful joy, the first and
- Page 199 and 200: 199 All their silvery stores, There
- Page 201 and 202: 201 Now with elf-locks dripping Fro
- Page 203 and 204: 203 Rises soaring to heaven in its
- Page 205 and 206: 205 Nought could resist his mighty
- Page 207 and 208: 207 The modest maiden May. Oh! she
- Page 209 and 210: 209 And as the thoughtless children
- Page 211: 211 And the young Year rose from hi
- Page 215 and 216: 215 And a blessing to the low. When
- Page 217 and 218: 217 Centenary Odes. O'CONNELL. AUGU
- Page 219 and 220: 219 And a voice rings out through t
- Page 221 and 222: 221 But soon had come the final com
- Page 223 and 224: 223 And grateful hearts invoked a b
- Page 225 and 226: 225 He slept by the soft Ligurian S
- Page 227 and 228: 227 In words though weak, in hues t
- Page 229 and 230: 229 The Homer of the West. He sings
- Page 231 and 232: 231 'Twas thus he sang, And while t
- Page 233 and 234: 233 The whole horizon fills. Or the
- Page 235 and 236: 235 The wit and song, the name and
- Page 237 and 238: 237 In visiting some bower, She sca
- Page 239 and 240: 239 'Tis Love, methought, blind Lov
- Page 241 and 242: 241 Thou by my side, fair vision, u
- Page 243 and 244: 243 Where scarce a flower that now
- Page 245 and 246: 245 Ah! wondrous is the lot of him
- Page 247 and 248: 247 And rob the heavens of stars fo
- Page 249 and 250: 249 What without me were all the po
- Page 251 and 252: 251 RECOLLECTIONS. Ah! summer time,
- Page 253 and 254: 253 Near to the lilacs round the po
- Page 255 and 256: 255 DOLORES. The moon of my soul is
- Page 257 and 258: 257 Of thy young heart's fond ambit
- Page 259 and 260: 259 'Tis Baiae, by a softer blue! G
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213<br />
THE FIRST OF THE ANGELS.<br />
Hush! hush! through the azure expanse of the sky<br />
Comes a low, gentle sound, 'twixt a laugh and a sigh;<br />
And I rise from my writing, and look up on high,<br />
And I kneel, for the first of God's angels is nigh!<br />
Oh, how to describe what my rapt eyes descry!<br />
For the blue of the sky is the blue of his eye;<br />
And the white clouds, whose whiteness the snowflakes outvie,<br />
Are the luminous pinions on which he doth fly!<br />
And his garments of gold gleam at times like the pyre<br />
Of the west, when the sun in a blaze doth expire;<br />
Now tinged like the orange, now flaming with fire!<br />
Half the crimson of roses and purple of Tyre.<br />
And his voice, on whose accents the angels have hung,<br />
He himself a bright angel, immortal and young,<br />
Scatters melody sweeter the green buds among<br />
Than the poet e'er wrote, or the nightingale sung.<br />
It comes on the balm-bearing breath of the breeze,<br />
And the odours that later will gladden the bees,<br />
With a life and a freshness united to these,<br />
From the rippling of waters and rustling of trees.<br />
Like a swan to its young o'er the glass of a pond,<br />
So to earth comes the angel, as graceful and fond;<br />
While a bright beam of sunshine--his magical wand,<br />
Strikes the fields at my feet, and the mountains beyond.<br />
They waken--they start into life at a bound--<br />
Flowers climb the tall hillocks, and cover the ground<br />
With a nimbus of glory the mountains are crown'd,<br />
As the rivulets rush to the ocean profound.<br />
There is life on the earth, there is calm on the sea,<br />
And the rough waves are smoothed, and the frozen are free;<br />
And they gambol and ramble like boys, in their glee,