Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
May-day on Magdalen TowerThomas Herbert Warren (1853–1930)
Written for Mr. Holman Hunt’s Picture
M
How fitly do we scale the steep dark stair!
Into the brightness of the matin air,
To praise with chanted hymn and echoing chime,
Dear Lord of Light, Thy lowlihead sublime
That stoop’d erewhile our life’s frail weed to wear!
Sun, cloud, and hill, all things Thou framest so fair,
With us are glad and gay, greeting the time.
The grey tower rocks and trembles into sound,
Dawn-smitten Memnon of a happier hour;
Through faint-hued fields the silver waters creep;
Day grows, birds pipe, and robed anew and crown’d,
Green Spring trips forth to set the world aflower.