’Twas when, oh, meekest Eve! thy shadows dim
Were slowly stealing round;
With more impassioned sound,
Divine Cecilia sung her vesper-hymn,
And swell’d the solemn chord
In hallelujahs to thy name, O Lord!
And now, I see her raise
Rapt adoration’s gaze,
With lips just opening, and with humid eyes
Uplifted; while the strain
Now sinks—now swells again—
Now, rising, seems to blend with Heaven’s own harmonies.
But who is that, divinely fair,
With more than mortal beauty in his mien;
With eyes of heav’nly light, and glist’ning hair;
His white and ample wings half seen?
Oh, radiant and immortal guest!
Why hast thou left the seraph-throng?
On earth the triumph to attest,
Of Beauty, Piety, and Song.