Robert Bridges

Pater Filio

SENSE with keenest edge unused,
    Yet unsteel'd by scathing fire;
Lovely feet as yet unbruised
    On the ways of dark desire;
Sweetest hope that lookest smiling
O'er the wilderness defiling!

Why such beauty, to be blighted
    By the swarm of foul destruction?
Why such innocence delighted,
    When sin stalks to thy seduction?
All the litanies e'er chaunted
Shall not keep thy faith undaunted.

I have pray'd the sainted Morning
    To unclasp her hands to hold thee;
From resignful Eve's adorning
    Stol'n a robe of peace to enfold thee;
With all charms of man's contriving
Arm'd thee for thy lonely striving.

Me too once unthinking Nature,
    —Whence Love's timeless mockery took me,—
Fashion'd so divine a creature,
    Yea, and like a beast forsook me.
I forgave, but tell the measure
Of her crime in thee, my treasure.