ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS
XXIV. SAINTS
ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS
YE, too, must fly before a chasing hand, Angels and Saints, in every hamlet mourned! Ah! if the old idolatry be spurned, Let not your radiant Shapes desert the Land: Her adoration was not your demand, The fond heart proffered it–the servile heart; And therefore are ye summoned to depart, Michael, and thou, St. George, whose flaming brand The Dragon quelled; and valiant Margaret Whose rival sword a like Opponent slew: 10 And rapt Cecilia seraph-haunted Queen Of harmony; and weeping Magdalene, Who in the penitential desert met Gales sweet as those that over Eden blew!