Page:An epic of women and other poems (IA epicofwomenother00osha).pdf/48

At times there is vouchsafed me, e'en
  Some sign that certainly foretells
Of thee at hand: so I have seen—
  Caught by no earthly clash of bells—
  A gleam of silver citadels;
Distant, and radiant with such sheen
  As only on high virgin snows,
  Or from the diamond one knows;
Displayed a moment, without shroud,
  Eclipsing all the night's fair shows
From some dim pinnacle of cloud:

Or, through a calm hushed interval
  Of most charmed thinking, there hath passed,
And with no rumour or footfall,
  A troop of blonde ones who surpassed
  All tales of loveliness amassed
In my child's dreamland; costumed all
As for a bridal; who did shine
  With such a splendour on each face,
And light upon the garments fine,
  I knew them surely of a race
That dwells in that fair realm of thine.