THE ALTAR OF THE RIGHTEOUSNESS
53
Sprang sudden as flame, and kindled the darkness of
faith with love,
And the hollow of hell from beneath shone, quickened of
heaven from above.
Yea, hell at her word grew heaven, as she prayed that if
God thought well
She there might stand in the gateway, that none might
pass into hell.
Not Hermes, guardian and guide, God, herald, and
comforter, shed
Such lustre of hope from the life of his light on the night
of the dead.
Not Pallas, wiser and mightier in mercy than Rome's
God shone,
Wore ever such raiment of love as the soul of a saint
put on.
So blooms as a flower of the darkness a star of the
midnight born,
Of the midnight's womb and the blackness of darkness,
and flames like morn.
