O' Lyric Love

O' Lyric Love, half angel and half bird, And all a wonder and a wild desire,- Boldest of hearts that ever braved the sun, Took sanctuary within the holier blue, And sang a kindred soul out to his face,- Yet human at the red-ripe of the heart- When the first summons from the darkling earth Reached thee amid thy chambers, blanched their blue, And bared them of the glory-to drop down, To toil for man, to suffer or to die,- This is the same voice: can thy soul know change? Hail then, and hearken from the realms of help! Never may I commence my song, my due To God who best taught song by gift of thee, Except with bent head and beseeching hand- That still, despite the distance and the dark, What was, again may be; some interchange Of grace, some splendor once thy very thought, Some benediction anciently thy smile: -Never conclude, but raising hand and head Thither where eyes, that cannot reach, yet yearn For all hope, all sustainment, all reward, Their upmost up and on,-so blessing back In those thy realms of help, that heaven thy home, Some whiteness which, I judge, thy face makes proud, Some wanness where, I think, thy foot may fall!