IF there be prophets on whose spirits rest Past things, revealed like future, they can tell What Powers, presiding o'er the sacred well Of Christian Faith, this savage Island blessed With its first bounty. Wandering through the west, Did holy Paul a while in Britain dwell, And call the Fountain forth by miracle, And with dread signs the nascent Stream invest? Or He, whose bonds dropped off, whose prison doors Flew open, by an Angel's voice unbarred? Or some of humbler name, to these wild shores Storm-driven; who, having seen the cup of woe Pass from their Master, sojourned here to guard The precious Current they had taught to flow? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DISMAL MOMENT PASSING by CLARENCE MAJOR SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE: 11. IN THE RESTAURANT by THOMAS HARDY THE MORNING-GLORY by MARIA WHITE LOWELL REBEL COLOR-BEARERS AT SHILOH by HERMAN MELVILLE THE SPIRIT OF SHAKESPEARE: 1 by GEORGE MEREDITH ON A FLY DRINKING FROM HIS CUP by WILLIAM OLDYS ODE TO THE WEST WIND by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM; FROM HER BOY by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON |