the church of the gesù.
41
Hell's leaguered anarchies assail
The winged host of heaven; that Ill
And Good are waging battle dread,
As God or Satan wait the dead!
And yet, unguarded and alone,
(Oh, finite impotence of Love!)
Each gentle lamb, each tender dove,
With bleeding feet must wander on:
They, whom with passionate emotion,
We shielded o'er Life's stormy ocean,
Alone must meet, alone must dare,
Heaven's wrath, God's anger, Sin's despair!
The winged host of heaven; that Ill
And Good are waging battle dread,
As God or Satan wait the dead!
And yet, unguarded and alone,
(Oh, finite impotence of Love!)
Each gentle lamb, each tender dove,
With bleeding feet must wander on:
They, whom with passionate emotion,
We shielded o'er Life's stormy ocean,
Alone must meet, alone must dare,
Heaven's wrath, God's anger, Sin's despair!
Said I alone! O God! through all
The flaming wings, the piercing swords,
As file on file the glittering hordes
Angelic bent above this pall,
My awe-struck vision met a light,
A lambent halo, glorious bright,
From eyes divine, which o'er the dead
Their orbèd radiance sheltering spread.
Those eyes—those eyes—th' Archangel's shade,
The stricken splendour of their brows,
The flaming wings, the piercing swords,
As file on file the glittering hordes
Angelic bent above this pall,
My awe-struck vision met a light,
A lambent halo, glorious bright,
From eyes divine, which o'er the dead
Their orbèd radiance sheltering spread.
Those eyes—those eyes—th' Archangel's shade,
The stricken splendour of their brows,
