It's chain of silver twine,

The man whose loved and honoured name

May save, if aught can save from shame,

This lowly lay of mine.

IV.

A warrior he !-but not like those

Whose bones along that shore repose;

Wild men, whose savage mood

Held foremost of their stormy joys

The battle of confused noise

And garments rolled in blood:

He fought!-but silently and lone :

A viewless shield was o'er him thrown ;

A viewless helmet fenced his head;

No blow was struck !-no blood was shed!

And yet, in deadly fight,

The soldier of the cross prevailed

O'er mightier foe than ever quailed

To mortal skill or might!

V.

In childhood and in youth the same, Small zest had he for glee or game; And Pleasure's soft and syren call Passed powerless o'er the mind of Paul. Not that the youthful sage's mind Abjured communion with his kind;

Howe'er he shunned the common crowd, He friendship's sacred claim allowed: But most at midnight's silent hour,

When spirits of the dead have power

Upon the lonely man,

And whisper strange and solemn things,

And prompt to high imaginings,

And the young fancy's wild harp-strings

With shadowy fingers span,

He loved, in converse uncontrolled,

To commune with the great of old ;—

To dream over Isaiah's song,

And think that time must bring ere long

The promised boon of Heaven;

Was Judah's hapless lot:

She had disowned her Saviour's claim;

Branded with infamy his name;

And, though unto his own he came,
His own received him not.

Yea, Paul denied him too!-he stood
Eager to dip his hands in blood,-
The blood of that poor friendless few,
Who, to their murdered Master true,

Were proud to share his fate:

But Heaven forbade :-a voice of fear,7

A light than mid-day sun more clear

Arrested in its fierce career

The persecutor's hate:

He saw he heard!-the truth at once,

Borne inwards like the lightning's glance,
Upon his conscience beamed:

And from that hours he held at nought
Wealth, fame, and life, and bravely fought
The Christian's martyr-fight, and taught

The faith he once blasphemed.

VII.

For this, in cold and nakedness,

In toil and poverty,

In perils in the wilderness,

In perils in the sea,

His faith and courage never failed;

But calm and undismayed

He stood where open foes assailed,

Or falser friends betrayed.

Soft Cyprus' sons 10 around him throng,

And stay the dance and hush the song,

To list the truths he taught:

E

From him the roving clans and rude

Of Yemen's mountain solitude11

The lore of life have caught.

VIII.

And now from Asia's furthest verge

He frequent turns his eyes,

Where Lemnos' hills from out the surge

In shadowy masses rise:

He saw the sun salute that even

Those mountains of the west,

And leave his mantle bright from heaven Upon their swarthy breast:

E'en thus, he thought, the Gospel-star

Arose in Eastern climes afar;

But all, as on it passed,

From Tyre to Troy its light confess,

Till haply it may stoop to bless

The western world at last.