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[137] I cannot doubt, if thou hadst been
Among the highly favored men
Who walked on earth with Fenelon,
He would have owned thee as his son;
And, bright with wings of cherubim
Visibly waving over him,
Seen through his life, the Church had seemed
All that its old confessors dreamed. “
‘I would have been,’ Jean Jaques replied,
“The humblest servant at his side,
Obscure, unknown, content to see
How beautiful man's life may be!
Oh, more than thrice-blest relic, more
Than solemn rite or sacred lore,
The holy life of one who trod
The foot-marks of the Christ of God!
Amidst a blinded world he saw
The oneness of the Dual law;
That Heaven's sweet peace on. Earth began,
And God was loved through love of man.
He lived the Truth which reconciled
The strong man Reason, Faith the child;
In him belief and act were one,
The homilies of duty done! “
So speaking, through the twilight gray
The two old pilgrims went their way.
What seeds of life that day were sown,
The heavenly watchers knew alone.
Boston and New York, Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1888-89.
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