Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907.
By Poems. III. Sense, Faith, and GloryAubrey de Vere (18141902)
T
That sensuous earth which round us lies;
The next of Faith’s Intelligence:
The third of Glory in the skies.
The second heavenly, but obscure;
The third is star-like in the face—
But ah! remote that world as pure!
Some sparkles from that loftier sphere
Make way to earth; then most what time
The annual spring flowers appear.
All shapes of brightness, what are they
But wanderers, exiled from their birth,
Or pledges of a happier day?
But some surpassing, transient gleam;
Some smile from heaven, in waves of light,
Rippling o’er life’s distempered dream?
Which rushed through first-born Nature’s blood
When He who ever was, and is,
Looked down, and saw that all was good?