196
ODE.
Send the blessed sisters three,
Faith and Hope and Charity,
Unto our hearts, where full of joy we stand,
Lifting glad hands in this our glorious land,—
And in one bond of Union, strong and sweet,
Bearing the fairest gifts our lives have known,
To lay them humbly at the sacred feet
Of him who sits upon Thine earthly throne.
Faith and Hope and Charity,
Unto our hearts, where full of joy we stand,
Lifting glad hands in this our glorious land,—
And in one bond of Union, strong and sweet,
Bearing the fairest gifts our lives have known,
To lay them humbly at the sacred feet
Of him who sits upon Thine earthly throne.
III.
Lo! where he sits beneath Italian skies!
Where from the shadow of his prison bars
His soul flames out and upward,—as the stars
That burn serene though earthly clouds arise!
Man cannot strip the glory from his brow,
Nor can the cruel walls restrain the tide
Of all his children's love and joy and pride,
Surging through sea and land to greet him now;
Bright amid the names that shine
In that grand unbroken line
Reaching back through circling ages to the far off shores of time,—
To the days when Christ gave Peter his last pledge of love sublime!
Where from the shadow of his prison bars
His soul flames out and upward,—as the stars
That burn serene though earthly clouds arise!
Man cannot strip the glory from his brow,
Nor can the cruel walls restrain the tide
Of all his children's love and joy and pride,
Surging through sea and land to greet him now;
Bright amid the names that shine
In that grand unbroken line
Reaching back through circling ages to the far off shores of time,—
To the days when Christ gave Peter his last pledge of love sublime!
