SONG X. The True Light.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Boethius and James, H. R. (Henry Rosher)
Hither come, all ye whose minds Lust with rosy fetters binds— Lust to bondage hard compelling Th' earthy souls that are his dwelling— Here shall be your labour's close; Here your haven of repose. Come, to your one refuge press; Wide it stands to all distress!
Not the glint of yellow gold Down bright Hermus' current rolled; Not the Tagus' precious sands, Nor in far-off scorching lands All the radiant gems that hide Under Indus' storied tide— Emerald green and glistering white— Can illume our feeble sight; But they rather leave the mind In its native darkness blind. For the fairest beams they shed In earth's lowest depths were fed; But the splendour that supplies Strength and vigour to the skies, And the universe controls, Shunneth dark and ruined souls. He who once hath seen this light Will not call the sunbeam bright.