BETA

Rest.

“ They are at rest :1
Woe may not stir the heaven of their re-
pose2
By rude invoking voice, or prayer addrest3
In waywardness to those4
Who in the mountain-grots of Eden lie,5
And hear the fourfold river as it murmurs
by.*6
They hear it sweep7
In distance down the dark and savage vale ;8
But they at rocky bed, or current deep,9
Shall never more grow pale ;10
They hear, and meekly muse, as fain to know11
How long untired, unspent, that giant stream
shall flow.12
And soothing sounds13
Blend with the neighbouring waters as they
glide ;14
Posted along the haunted garden’s bounds,15
Angelic forms abide,16
Echoing, as words of watch, o’er lawn and
grove17
The verses of that hymn which seraphs
chant above.”18
* Theological (assuredly not poetic) considerations have caused the following
change of this fine stanza in the present volume :—
“ They are at rest :
The fire has eaten out all blot and stain,
And, convalescent, they enjoy a blest
Refreshment after pain ;
Thus to the End in Eden’s grots they lie,
And hear the fourfold river as it hurries by.”
Each of these alterations is an unhappy one. Especially is it a pity to see the
“ well of English undefiled” perturbed just here by the drop of ecclesiastical
Latin in “ convalescent.”