Page:Poems Rossetti.djvu/422

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394
EXULTATE DEO.
A patriarchal ram with tinkling bell
Led all his kin sometimes one browsing sheep
Hung back a moment, or one lamb would leap
  And frolic in a dell;
Yet still they kept together, journeying well,

And bleating, one or other, many or few,
Journeying together toward the sunlit west;
Mild face by face, and woolly breast by breast,
  Patient, sun-brightened too,
Still journeying toward the sunset and their rest.


EXULTATE DEO.
MANY a flower hath perfume for its dower,
  And many a bird a song,
And harmless lambs milkwhite beside their dams
  Frolic along;
Perfume and song and whiteness offering praise
  In humble, peaceful ways.

Man's high degree hath will and memory,
  Affection and desire,
By loftier ways he mounts of prayer and praise;
  Fire unto fire,
Deep unto deep responsive, height to height,
  Until he walk in white.