VII.

Ascending from the convent-grates,

The children mount the woodland vale.

‘ Tis May-Day Eve; and Hesper waits

To light them, while the western gale

Blows softly on their bannered line:

And, lo! down all the mountain stairs

The shepherd children come to join

The convent children at their prayers.

They meet before Our Lady's fane:

On yonder central rock it stands,

Uplifting, ne'er invoked in vain,

That cross which blesses all the lands.

Before the porch the flowers are flung;

The lamp hangs glittering‘ neath the Rood;

The “Maris Stella” hymn is sung;

Their chant each morn to be renewed.

Ah! if a secular muse might dare,

Far off, the children's song to catch;

To echo back, or burthen bear!—

As fitly might she hope to match

The linnet's note as theirs,‘ tis true:

Yet, now and then, that borrowed tone,

Like sunbeams flashed on pine or yew,

Might shoot a sweetness through her own!