HELENA'S BEACONS.3(The Finding of the Cross, A. D. 326.)
Helena, Empress-mother,
Weary with years and woes,
Was fain to see the holy place
Of the Saviour's last repose.
"The rock? the tomb?" cried Constantine,
Nay, could His Cross be found,
What glory for my life, my reign,
To time's remotest bound!
For since the day its splendor blazed
By the sun in the blinding sky,
And the whole silent, awe-struck host
Knew more than Jove was nigh,
And the night the Lord himself came down
The mystic symbol showing,
And I saw His face as the seraphs see,
With love and pity glowing,—
I have stamped it on the Empire
As God on heaven's dome;
By this sign I have conquered
In camp and court and home,
And my own statue bears it up,
The bronze I reared in Rome!
Weary with years and woes,
Was fain to see the holy place
Of the Saviour's last repose.
"The rock? the tomb?" cried Constantine,
Nay, could His Cross be found,
What glory for my life, my reign,
To time's remotest bound!
For since the day its splendor blazed
By the sun in the blinding sky,
And the whole silent, awe-struck host
Knew more than Jove was nigh,
And the night the Lord himself came down
The mystic symbol showing,
And I saw His face as the seraphs see,
With love and pity glowing,—
I have stamped it on the Empire
As God on heaven's dome;
By this sign I have conquered
In camp and court and home,
And my own statue bears it up,
The bronze I reared in Rome!
