Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
VII. Death: Immortality: Heaven“It kindles all my soul”
Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski (1595–1640)From the Latin by John Mason Neale
“Urit me Patriæ decor.”
“Urit me Patriæ decor.”
I
My country’s loveliness! Those starry choirs
That watch around the pole,
And the moon’s tender light, and heavenly fires
Through golden halls that roll.
O chorus of the night! O planets, sworn
The music of the spheres
To follow! Lovely watchers, that think scorn
To rest till day appears!
Me, for celestial homes of glory born,
Why here, O, why so long,
Do ye behold an exile from on high?
Here, O ye shining throng,
With lilies spread the mound where I shall lie:
Here let me drop my chain,
And dust to dust returning, cast away
The trammels that remain;
The rest of me shall spring to endless day!