Page:Poems (1853).djvu/75

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PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS.
61

PAUL PREACHING AT ATHENS.


   Greece! hear that joyful sound,
A stranger’s voice upon thy sacred hill;
Whose tones shall bid the slumbering nations round,
   Wake with convulsive thrill.
Athenians! gather there; he brings you words
Brighter than all your boasted lore affords.

   He brings you news of One,
Above Olympian Jove. One, in whose light
Your gods shall fade like stars before the sun.
   On your bewildered night,
That Unknown God of whom ye darkly dream,
In all his burning radiance shall beam.

   Behold, he bids you rise
From your dark worship at that idol shrine;
He points to Him who reared your starry skies,
   And bade your Phœbus shine.
Lift up your souls, from where in dust ye bow;
That God of gods commands your homage now.