POEMS
393
Chief, the charm of thy reflecting, |
Is the moral that it brings; |
Nature, with the mind connecting, |
Gives the artist's fancy wings. |
Soul, sublime 'mid human débris, |
Paints the limner's work, I ween, |
Art and Science, all unweary, |
Lighting up this mortal dream. |
Work ill-done within the misty |
Mine of human thoughts, we see |
Soon abandoned when the Master |
Crowns life's Cliff for such as we. |
Students wise, he maketh now thus |
Those who fish in waters deep, |
When the buried Master hails us |
From the shores afar, complete. |
Art hath bathed this isthmus-lordling |
In a beauty strong and meek |
As the rock, whose upward tending |
Points the plane of power to seek. |
Isle of beauty, thou art teaching |
Lessons long and grand, to-night, |
To my heart that would be bleaching |
To thy whiteness, Cliff of Wight. |