Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE ILLUMINATIONS OF ST. PETER'S, by RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE ILLUMINATIONS OF ST. PETER'S, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Temple! Where time has wed eternity
Last Line: We blind our earthly eyes; -- to live we die.
Alternate Author Name(s): Houghton, 1st Baron; Houghton, Lord
Subject(s): Saint Peter's Church, Rome


I.

FIRST ILLUMINATION.

TEMPLE! where Time has wed Eternity,
How beautiful Thou art, beyond compare,
Now emptied of thy massive majesty,
And made so faery-frail, so faery-fair:
The lineaments that thou art wont to wear
Augustly traced in ponderous masonry,
Lie faint as in a woof of filmy air,
Within their frames of mellow jewelry. --
But yet how sweet the hardly-waking sense,
That when the strength of hours has quenched those gems,
Disparted all those soft-bright diadems, --
Still in the Sun thy form will rise supreme
In its own solid clear magnificence,
Divinest substance then, as now divinest dream.

II.

SECOND ILLUMINATION.

MY heart was resting with a peaceful gaze,
So peaceful that it seemed I well could die
Entranced before such Beauty, -- when a cry
Burst from me, and I sunk in dumb amaze:
The molten stars before a withering blaze
Paled to annihilation, and my eye,
Stunned by the splendour, saw against the sky
Nothing but light, -- sheer light, -- and light's own haze.
At last that giddying Sight took form, -- and then
Appeared the stable Vision of a Crown,
From the black vault by unseen Power let down,
Cross-topped, -- thrice girt with flame: --
Cities of men,
Queens of the Earth! bow low, -- was ever brow
Of mortal birth adorned as Rome is now?

III.

REFLECTION.

PAST is the first dear phantom of our sight,
A loadstar of calm loveliness to draw
All souls from out this world of fault and flaw,
To a most perfect centre of delight,
Merged in deep fire; -- our joy is turned to awe,
Delight to wonder. This is just and right; --
A greater light puts out the lesser light, --
So be it ever, -- such is God's high law.
The self-same Sun that calls the flowers from earth
Withers them soon, to give the fruit free birth; --
The nobler Spirit to whom much is given
Must take still more, though in that more there lie
The risk of losing All; -- to gaze at Heaven,
We blind our earthly eyes; -- to live we die.





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