I.
When her fair land with grief o’erspread,
Insubria mourn’d her primate dead;
When Borromeo to the tomb
Was borne mid all-pervading gloom;
When dimm’d with tears was every eye,
When breathed one universal sigh
The sorrowing lyre for him who slept,
I first-a Scottish minstrel-swept.
II.
The night is pass’d, and dawn awakes,
Bright Cynthius through the vapour breaks,
And Lucifer, with cheering beams,
From out his golden axle gleams.
Where late upon the raging sea
The wild winds rush’d tumultuously ;
And the frail bark by surges toss’d,
Her tempest-braving helmsman lost,
Her timbers strain’d, her canvass riven,
Wide o’er the weltering waste was driven ;
While her pale crew, with fear aghast,
Gazed (as they deem’d) on heaven their last!
With shrieks their hapless fate bewailing!
With prayers the threatening skies assailing!-
-A change is wrought!-hush’d are the gales,
A soft and summer calm prevails ;
And the glad ship in safety glides
Over the gently-rolling tides.
In troops, o’er ocean’s broad expanse,
Day’s rosy harbingers advance;
Bland Eolus careers the wave,
Fierce Notus hurries to his cave;
Young Titan from the waters springs,
With new-born lustre on his wings;
And over all things shines that sun,
Whose light a thousand vows have won.
III.
Io! with shouts the decks resound!
Io! another chief is found!
Another leader hath been sent
To rule the Christian armament: .
Whose firmness and undaunted zeal
Ensure uninterrupted weal!
Whose voice the Roman Rota sway’d,
Whose laws that synod sage obey’d;
Whose hand will guide, with equal ease,
Religion’s bark through stormy seas:
Whose power in exhortation shown,
Whose wisdom I myself have known;
When, by his eloquence subdued,
In admiration lost I stood.
Rejoice, thrice happy Lombardy!
That such a chief is given to thee!
A chief, so free from aught of sin,
Virtue might be his origin;
Whose heavenly purpose onward tending,
Whose resolution calm, unbending,
Shall lead thee through the shades of night
To realms of everlasting light.
Iv.
Haste, Milanese ! your primate greet!
Prelates! your leader fly to meet!
Run, maidens! youths! let each one bring
Some gift, some worthy offering!
Surrounding nations hail your choice,
Surrounding nations loud rejoice;
Like him, whom ye have lost, was none
Save him your choice has fall’n upon!
V.
A father fond, a ruler wise,
Gaspar, in thee we recognise;
Thy name, Visconti, seems to be
An earnest of prosperity.
To us them art in our distress
As manna in the wilderness.
Inhospitable Caucasus,
Sarmatian Boreas rigorous,
Seize on the caitiff, who denies
Thy all-acknowledged charities!
A glory art thou, and a star,
A light, a pharos seen afar!
And, clothed with majesty divine,
Shalt prove the pillar of thy line.
High rectitude and prescience
Are thine, and wide beneficence;
A Numa in thy sanctity,
A Cato in thy gravity,
Augustus in nobility!
Hence the High Pontiff Gregory,
Who holds of paradise the key,
For thee earth’s chains hath cast aside,
For thee heaven’s gate hath open’d wide;
Milan’s white robe hath round thee spread,
Her mitre placed upon thy head.
VI.
In thy bless’d advent all men see
Of peace a certain augury;
All tongues are clamorous in thy praise,
All prayers are for thy length of days.
Amid the crowd I, Crichton, born
On Caledonian shores forlorn,
Not all unknown, congratulate
Thee, Caspar, on thine honour’d state.
Perpetual happiness be thine!
Thy bright, approving smile be mine!
Nor let thy taste, severe, disdain,
Primate, this welcome-breathing strain.
(James Crichton)
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Based on Topics: Night Poems, Light Poems, Sadness Poems, War & Peace Poems, Youth Poems, Heaven Poems, Sense & Perception Poems, Christianity Poems, Name Poems, Success Poems, Money & Wealth PoemsBased on Keywords: augury, armament, prelates, uninterrupted, pontiff, inhospitable, synod, pharos, milan, all-pervading, caledonian
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