74 THE KLINGEL CHAPEL, 



Were sunny hope and sylvan bloom 



Neighboured by crag and cave profound. 

 And frowning summits, forest- crowned, 

 Like and unlike ! O Nature fair ! 

 O arrowy Rhine ! who shall presume 

 Your glorious sternness to compare 

 With the dark lineaments that tyrants wear ? 



Far other thought the hermit moved, 

 Contrasting with his prayerful shed 



The groanings of the land he loved, 

 And, wakeful on his leafy bed, 

 With night's deep star-calm o'er his head, 



In spirit fervently he prayed 



Her deeper night might be removed, 



Her crime-stained son, by Jesu's aid, 

 Heaven's beams, wrath-hidden, might at length pervade. 



Broke on his prayer a music strain 

 Of seraph-sweetness wandering near ; 



He listened, rose, and searched amain 



Whence came those sounds of heavenly cheer, 

 When, lo ! more wondrous, silvery clear 



A stream of light seemed as it bore 



In visible breathing o'er the plain 



That voice melodious to his door 

 From out a neighbouring dell deep-wooded o'er. 



Thither he hied when morning's rays 

 Lit up the dew-drops and pursued 



His eager quest, but from his gaze 

 The flame had vanished, nor renewed 

 Was that sweet warbling of the wood 



Until again his couch he pressed ; 



Then on his midnight prayer and praise 



Hovered again the aerial guest, 

 With tones no mortal minstrel e'er expressed. 



Three nights the warning wonder came, 



Thrilling his soul with mystic awe ; i 



Three days, when passed the stream of flame, 

 The song he heard, the light he saw, 

 Bending his spirit with a law 



Holy, resistless, drew him on 



To linger searchfully (the name 



Most holy oft his lips upon) 

 From glistering dawn till the last day-beam shone. 



O rich reward ! beneath the leaves, 



In matted tufts explored anew, 

 At the third day- close he perceives, 



When rose the luminous track to view, 



A token to his bodings true ; 

 The virgin mother's image fair 

 He reads prophetic, and receives 

 The mission those blest types declare, 

 For now the light, the hymn, interpret were. 

 Girded with pious zeal he rose 



And strong in faith, by love made bold, 

 Where'er the crystal Money flows 



And the Rhine's arrowy tides are rolled 



He knocked at hearts, he begged the gold ; 



