Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882). Complete Poetical Works. 1893.

Appendix

II. Unacknowledged and Uncollected Translations. Ideal Beauty

O LIGHT serene! present in him who breathes

That love divine, which kindles yet restrains

The high-born soul—that in its mortal chains

Heavenward aspires for love’s immortal wreaths!

Rich golden locks, within whose clustered curls

Celestial and eternal treasures lie!

A voice that breathes angelic harmony

Among bright coral and unspotted pearls!

What marvellous beauty! Of the high estate

Of immortality, within this light

Transparent veil of flesh, a glimpse is given;

And in the glorious form, I contemplate,

(Although its brightness blinds my feeble sight,)

The immortal still I seek and follow on to Heaven!