Page:Shelley, a poem, with other writings (Thomson, Debell).djvu/23

Most beautiful in the eternal youth
   Of those who ever breathe the heavenly air
Of perfect holiness and love and truth;
   Most bright in full-flusht fervour, standing there
   With half-spread wings and backward-streaming hair,
As if alit for but a moment's rest
While speeding forward on his single quest.

Then Raphael laid a benedictive hand
   On that pure brow, and spake in gentle tone—
"Thou dear, dear Child of God, than whom doth stand
   No purer humbler spirit near His throne,
   And none more ardent to speed forth alone
On any errand from the bliss above
In single-hearted and unbounded love;

"Thy service is accepted: thou shalt pall
   In mortal flesh thy seraphood sublime;
A witness of the one true Lord of all
   Amidst a world gone mad with sin and crime,
   A prophet of the glorious Future time
And of Eternity when Time is past
Amidst the Present of a world aghast.

"I see the storm's commencing clouds of gloom,
   I see the storm's first lightnings fiercely flash,
I hear the storm's first thunders roll and boom,
   I hear the storm's first ruins quake and crash,—
   O Man, thy judgment-wrath is wild and rash!
...Go down, dear Child; and may God give thee power
To serve Him loyally thro' this stern hour."