LI.—WINTER.
1. Fall, snow, and cease not! Flake by flakeThe decent winding-sheet compose.Thy task is just and pious; makeAn end of blasphemies and woes.2. Fall flake by flake! by thee alone,Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,The couch whose covering is from heaven.3. Descend and clasp the mountain’s crest;Inherit plain and valley deep:This night on thy maternal breastA vanquished nation dies in sleep.4. Lo! from the starry Temple GatesDeath rides, and bears the flag of peace:The combatants he separates;He bids the wrath of ages cease.5. Descend, benignant Power! But O,Ye torrents, shake no more the vale:Dark streams, in silence seaward flow:Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.6. Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,Nor Brandon’s base, rough sea! Thou Isle,The Rite proceeds! From shore to shore,Hold in thy gathered breath the while.7. Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew,On church’s roof and cedar’s fan;And mold thyself on pine and yew;And on the awful face of man.8. Without a sound, without a stir,In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,O, omnipresent Comforter,By Thee, this night, the lost are found!9. On quaking moor, and mountain moss,With eyes upstaring at the sky,And arms extended like a cross,The long-expectant sufferers lie.10. Bend o’er them, white-robed Acolyte!Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist;And minister the last sad Rite,Where altar there is none, nor priest.11. Touch thou the gates of soul and sense;Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;Touch stiffening hands and feet, and thenceRemove the trace of sin and tears.12. And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,Into God’s urn thy fingers dip,And lay, ’mid eucharistic sighs,The sacred wafer on the lip.13. This night the Absolver issues forth:This night the Eternal Victim bleeds:O winds and woods—O heaven and earth!Be still this night. The Rite proceeds!
1. Fall, snow, and cease not! Flake by flakeThe decent winding-sheet compose.Thy task is just and pious; makeAn end of blasphemies and woes.2. Fall flake by flake! by thee alone,Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,The couch whose covering is from heaven.3. Descend and clasp the mountain’s crest;Inherit plain and valley deep:This night on thy maternal breastA vanquished nation dies in sleep.4. Lo! from the starry Temple GatesDeath rides, and bears the flag of peace:The combatants he separates;He bids the wrath of ages cease.5. Descend, benignant Power! But O,Ye torrents, shake no more the vale:Dark streams, in silence seaward flow:Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.6. Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,Nor Brandon’s base, rough sea! Thou Isle,The Rite proceeds! From shore to shore,Hold in thy gathered breath the while.7. Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew,On church’s roof and cedar’s fan;And mold thyself on pine and yew;And on the awful face of man.8. Without a sound, without a stir,In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,O, omnipresent Comforter,By Thee, this night, the lost are found!9. On quaking moor, and mountain moss,With eyes upstaring at the sky,And arms extended like a cross,The long-expectant sufferers lie.10. Bend o’er them, white-robed Acolyte!Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist;And minister the last sad Rite,Where altar there is none, nor priest.11. Touch thou the gates of soul and sense;Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;Touch stiffening hands and feet, and thenceRemove the trace of sin and tears.12. And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,Into God’s urn thy fingers dip,And lay, ’mid eucharistic sighs,The sacred wafer on the lip.13. This night the Absolver issues forth:This night the Eternal Victim bleeds:O winds and woods—O heaven and earth!Be still this night. The Rite proceeds!
1. Fall, snow, and cease not! Flake by flakeThe decent winding-sheet compose.Thy task is just and pious; makeAn end of blasphemies and woes.
1. Fall, snow, and cease not! Flake by flake
The decent winding-sheet compose.
Thy task is just and pious; make
An end of blasphemies and woes.
2. Fall flake by flake! by thee alone,Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,The couch whose covering is from heaven.
2. Fall flake by flake! by thee alone,
Last friend, the sleeping draught is given:
Kind nurse, by thee the couch is strewn,
The couch whose covering is from heaven.
3. Descend and clasp the mountain’s crest;Inherit plain and valley deep:This night on thy maternal breastA vanquished nation dies in sleep.
3. Descend and clasp the mountain’s crest;
Inherit plain and valley deep:
This night on thy maternal breast
A vanquished nation dies in sleep.
4. Lo! from the starry Temple GatesDeath rides, and bears the flag of peace:The combatants he separates;He bids the wrath of ages cease.
4. Lo! from the starry Temple Gates
Death rides, and bears the flag of peace:
The combatants he separates;
He bids the wrath of ages cease.
5. Descend, benignant Power! But O,Ye torrents, shake no more the vale:Dark streams, in silence seaward flow:Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.
5. Descend, benignant Power! But O,
Ye torrents, shake no more the vale:
Dark streams, in silence seaward flow:
Thou rising storm, remit thy wail.
6. Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,Nor Brandon’s base, rough sea! Thou Isle,The Rite proceeds! From shore to shore,Hold in thy gathered breath the while.
6. Shake not, to-night, the cliffs of Moher,
Nor Brandon’s base, rough sea! Thou Isle,
The Rite proceeds! From shore to shore,
Hold in thy gathered breath the while.
7. Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew,On church’s roof and cedar’s fan;And mold thyself on pine and yew;And on the awful face of man.
7. Fall, snow! in stillness fall, like dew,
On church’s roof and cedar’s fan;
And mold thyself on pine and yew;
And on the awful face of man.
8. Without a sound, without a stir,In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,O, omnipresent Comforter,By Thee, this night, the lost are found!
8. Without a sound, without a stir,
In streets and wolds, on rock and mound,
O, omnipresent Comforter,
By Thee, this night, the lost are found!
9. On quaking moor, and mountain moss,With eyes upstaring at the sky,And arms extended like a cross,The long-expectant sufferers lie.
9. On quaking moor, and mountain moss,
With eyes upstaring at the sky,
And arms extended like a cross,
The long-expectant sufferers lie.
10. Bend o’er them, white-robed Acolyte!Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist;And minister the last sad Rite,Where altar there is none, nor priest.
10. Bend o’er them, white-robed Acolyte!
Put forth thine hand from cloud and mist;
And minister the last sad Rite,
Where altar there is none, nor priest.
11. Touch thou the gates of soul and sense;Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;Touch stiffening hands and feet, and thenceRemove the trace of sin and tears.
11. Touch thou the gates of soul and sense;
Touch darkening eyes and dying ears;
Touch stiffening hands and feet, and thence
Remove the trace of sin and tears.
12. And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,Into God’s urn thy fingers dip,And lay, ’mid eucharistic sighs,The sacred wafer on the lip.
12. And ere thou seal those filmed eyes,
Into God’s urn thy fingers dip,
And lay, ’mid eucharistic sighs,
The sacred wafer on the lip.
13. This night the Absolver issues forth:This night the Eternal Victim bleeds:O winds and woods—O heaven and earth!Be still this night. The Rite proceeds!
13. This night the Absolver issues forth:
This night the Eternal Victim bleeds:
O winds and woods—O heaven and earth!
Be still this night. The Rite proceeds!