Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | Epithalamium | By Edmund Gosse (18491928) |
| HIGH in the organ-loft with lilied hair, | |
Love plied the pedals with his snowy foot, | |
Pouring forth music like the scent of fruit, | |
And stirring all the incense-laden air; | |
We knelt before the altars gold rail, where | 5 |
The priest stood robed, with chalice and palm-shoot, | |
With music-men who bore citole and lute | |
Behind us, and the attendant virgins fair. | |
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And so our red aurora flashd to gold, | |
Our dawn to sudden sun; and all the while | 10 |
The high-voiced children trebled clear and cold, | |
The censer-boys went swinging down the aisle, | |
And far above, with fingers strong and sure, | |
Love closed our lives triumphant overture. | | | |
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