THE
sunset colours mingle in the sky,
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And
over all the Umbrian valleys flow;
Trevi is touched with wonder, and the glow |
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| Finds
high Perugia crimson with renown; |
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Spello
is bright; |
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And,
ah! St. Francis, thy deep-treasured town,
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Enshrined
Assisi, fully fronts the light.
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THIS
valley knew thee many a year ago; |
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Thy
shrine was built by simpleness of heart;
And from the wound called life thou drew'st the
smart: |
10 |
| Unquiet
kings come to thee and the sad poor— |
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Thou
gavest them peace; |
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| Far
as the Sultan and the Iberian shore |
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Thy
faith and abnegation gave release.
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DEEPER our faith, but not so sweet as thine; |
15 |
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Wider
our view, but not so sanely sure; |
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For
we are troubled by the witching lure |
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| Of
Science, with her lightning on the mist; |
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Science
that clears, |
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| Yet
never quite discloses what she wist, |
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And
leaves us half with doubts and half with fears. |
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WE act her dreams that shadow forth the truth, |
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That
somehow here the very nerves of God
Thrill the old fires, the rocks, the primal sod; |
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| We
throw our speech upon the open air, |
25 |
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And
it is caught |
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| Far
down the world, to sing and murmur there; |
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Our
common words are with deep wonder fraught. |
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SHALL not the subtle spirit of man contrive |
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To
charm the tremulous ether of the soul,
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Wherein
it breathes?—until, from pole to pole, |
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| Those
who are kin shall speak, as face to face, |
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From
star to star, |
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| Even
from earth to the most secret place, |
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Where
God and the supreme archangels are. |
35 |
SHALL we not prove, what thou hast faintly taught, |
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That
all the powers of earth and air are one,
That one deep law persists from mole to sun? |
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| Shall
we not search the heart of God and find |
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That
law empearled, |
40 |
| Until
all things that are in matter and mind |
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Throb
with the secret that began the world? |
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YEA, we have journeyed since thou trod'st the road, |
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Yet
still we keep the foreappointed quest;
While the last sunset smoulders in the West, |
45 |
| Still
the great faith with the underlying hope |
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Upsprings
and flows, |
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| While
dim Assisi fades on the wide slope |
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And
the deep Umbrian valleys fill with rose. |
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