Poems (Blake)/Ode
For works with similar titles, see Ode.
ODE.
CATHOLIC UNION FESTIVAL, NOVEMBER 13, 1873.
I.
Spirit of love Divine!Come from Thy holy place beside the throne; Bid light Eternal shine,Make the great glory of Thy presence known! Touch our pale lips with flame, Rouse our weak hearts' desire,—Come as of old God's burning message came,Crowning His chosen ones with tongues of fire; Banish the powers of strife, Banish the shapes of ill, Lead unto heavenly life Souls that would work Thy will: Bid light Eternal shine, Spirit of love Divine!
II.
God the Father,ȔHoly One, God the Son, whose brow doth rest On the Virgin Mother's breast, God the Spirit,Three in One! 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.
III.
Lo! where he sits beneath Italian skies!Where from the shadow of his prison barsHis 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 tideOf 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 lineReaching back through circling ages to the far off shores of time,—To the days when Christ gave Peter his last pledge of love sublime!
IV.
O Great and Good! Benign of heart and face!Whose hand hath paused amid its many cares,Sending a white-winged messenger of graceTo answer with its blessing our weak prayers!Here, from the shores that first Columbus trodTo win a world for mankind and for God,List to the burst of loud and long acclaim,Teaching our skies the homage due thy name!Behold the lifted hand, the lighted brow,As Priest and Prelate with their people bow,While the long billows of the Western mainRoll with our greeting back and hail thee once again!
V.
And thou, O Mother of our race!Above whose brow another star arisenCrowns thee Immaculate through Earth and Heaven,— Hail, Mary, full of Grace!Youngest amid the nations, still we claimTo hold most dear thine honor and thy name;Oh! be at once our solace and our rest,Of all our guides the truest and the best; Through every grief that clouds a world like this,Be still our star of heaven, our hope of bliss.
VI.
We look beyond the years,And lo! the gyves that bind our feet are 'riven,The banner of our Faith flung high to heaven Amid our prayers and tears;—The Cross, meet emblem of our strength and pride,Lifts its fair arms and spreads protection wide,While dedicated to its glory standThe wealth, the strength, the promise of our land; Above the wrecks of error and of time The Rock of Peter rears its height sublime, And within its grateful shade Peace and virtue undismayed,Nurtured and sheltered in the sacred sod,Raise their brave fronts and seek the face of God;While in one grand accord, from sea to sea,Faith's hymns of triumph rise from millions yet to be!