SONNETTO THE PILLAR THAT STANDS BESIDE THE HIGH ALTAR AT “S. PAUL’S OUTSIDE THE WALLS,” ROME.[168]BY AUBREY DE VERE.A conqueror called thee from the eternal night,And said, “Ascend from thy dark mother’s breast;Sustain my glory on thy sunlike crest,And by mine altar watch—an acolyte.”A poet, wandering from Helvellyn’s height,Beheld thee dead ere born. That Alpine guestAdjured thee, “Where thou liest, forever rest,And freeze those hearts that trust in mortal might.”The years went by; then, clear above that cloudWhich blinds the nations, from her Roman throneThus spake the universal church aloud:“Arise at last, thou long-expectant stone!For God predestined, consummate thy vow:Advance; and where the Apostle stood stand thou!”
SONNETTO THE PILLAR THAT STANDS BESIDE THE HIGH ALTAR AT “S. PAUL’S OUTSIDE THE WALLS,” ROME.[168]BY AUBREY DE VERE.A conqueror called thee from the eternal night,And said, “Ascend from thy dark mother’s breast;Sustain my glory on thy sunlike crest,And by mine altar watch—an acolyte.”A poet, wandering from Helvellyn’s height,Beheld thee dead ere born. That Alpine guestAdjured thee, “Where thou liest, forever rest,And freeze those hearts that trust in mortal might.”The years went by; then, clear above that cloudWhich blinds the nations, from her Roman throneThus spake the universal church aloud:“Arise at last, thou long-expectant stone!For God predestined, consummate thy vow:Advance; and where the Apostle stood stand thou!”
TO THE PILLAR THAT STANDS BESIDE THE HIGH ALTAR AT “S. PAUL’S OUTSIDE THE WALLS,” ROME.[168]
BY AUBREY DE VERE.
A conqueror called thee from the eternal night,And said, “Ascend from thy dark mother’s breast;Sustain my glory on thy sunlike crest,And by mine altar watch—an acolyte.”A poet, wandering from Helvellyn’s height,Beheld thee dead ere born. That Alpine guestAdjured thee, “Where thou liest, forever rest,And freeze those hearts that trust in mortal might.”The years went by; then, clear above that cloudWhich blinds the nations, from her Roman throneThus spake the universal church aloud:
“Arise at last, thou long-expectant stone!For God predestined, consummate thy vow:Advance; and where the Apostle stood stand thou!”