Augustin S. Macdonald, comp. A Collection of Verse by California Poets. 1914.
By F. Bret HarteThe Angelus
B
Still fills the wide expanse,
Tingeing the sober twilight of the Present
With color of romance:
On rock and wave and sand,
As down the coast the Mission voices blending
Girdle the heathen land.
No blight nor mildew falls;
Nor fierce unrest, nor lust, nor low ambition
Passes those airy walls.
I touch the farther Past,—
I see the dying glow of Spanish glory,
The sunset dream and last!
The white Presidio;
The swart commander in his leathern jerkin,
The priest in stole of snow.
Above the setting sun;
And past the headland, northward, slowly drifting
The freighted galleon.
Recall the faith of old,—
O tinkling bells! that lulled with twilight music
The spiritual fold!
Break, falter, and are still;
And veiled and mystic, like the Host descending,
The sun sinks from the hill!