Himself your guide! and yours the high behest, Oh had I perished, when my failing frame The scorn of Folly, and of Fraud the prey; At length among us came an unknown Voice! "Go, if ye will; and, if ye can, rejoice. Go, with unbidden guests the banquet share. CANTO VIII. Land discovered. TWICE in the zenith blazed the orb of light; Sent forth their anxious spirits o'er the main. 66 "Oh whence, as wafted from Elysium, whence *Ex ligno lucido confectum, et arte mirâ laboratum. P. Martyr. dec. 1. 5. Sons of the desert! who delight to dwell The sails were furled; with many a melting close, Solemn and slow the evening-anthem rose, Rose to the Virgin. "Twas the hour of day, When setting suns o'er summer-seas display A path of glory, opening in the west To golden climes, and islands of the blest; And human voices, on the silent air, Went o'er the waves in songs of gladness there! Chosen of Men! 'Twas thine, at noon of night, First from the prow to hail the glimmering light; (Emblem of Truth divine, whose secret ray Enters the soul and makes the darkness day!) "PEDRO ! RODRIGO! there, methought, it shone! There in the west! and now, alas, 'tis gone! 'Twas all a dream! we gaze and gaze in vain! -But mark and speak not, there it comes again! *The Simoom. |