ROBERT BRIDGES
844 Pater Filio
JENSE with keenest edge unused,
Yet unstcePd by scathing fire; Lovely feet as yet unbruised
On the ways of dark desire, Sweetest hope that lookest smiling O'er the wilderness defiling!
��Why such beauty, to be blighted By the swarm of foul destruction ?
Why such innocence delighted, When sin stalks to thy seduction^
All the litanies e'er chaunted
Shall not keep thy faith undaunted.
��I have pray'd the sainted Morning Xo unclasp her hands to hold thee;
From resign ful Eve's adorning
Stol'n a robe of peace to enfold thee;
With all charms of man's contriving
Arm'd thee for thy lonely striving.
��Me too once unthinking Nature,
Whence Love's timeless mockery took me,- Fashion'd so divine a creature,
Yea, and like a beast forsook me. I forgave, but tell the measure Of her crime in thee, my treasure.
�� �
