OUR LADY OF LIGHT

ON those eternal peaks of thought, Where her bright crystal towers shine, The many precious treasures brought Seem its clear walls to incarnadine. For all the varied colours heaped There mingle in one general flush, As through that lovely place there leaped The rose-leaf burnish of a blush. The golden arrowheads of wit, The laughters of refinèd sense, Diamond of sorrows infinite, Calm, open looks of innocence, And rubies, lovers’ burning hearts— With these she decks her diadem, Transmuting, by her learnèd arts, Each to its own peculiar gem. The jostling, crowded jewels show In sparkling piles where colours dance, And with angelic rosy glow The ramparts of her palace glance. And there she busied is, alone, To make of beauty beauties fresh, Or, seated queenly on her throne, Weaves fate into a glittering mesh. For every soul she gazes through And sees its deepest-hid desires, As though we were but drops of dew, Transparent, lit by alien fires. This one she chooses; it is clear And burns with an intenser flame; But that, for a long age’s year, Leaves to the darkness whence it came. While time itself grows weary, she Still solitary sits to weave, Until that last eternity When all are taken, none to leave. Then in her magic tissue hapt, The new-clothed, fragrant earth shall run In visionary radiance wrapped, A dazzling sister to the sun, And so Our Lady’s work be done.