Chapter I: Front Matter

THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT

THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT and Other Poems

_Impressions from Old Masters_

ETHEL ALLEN MURPHY

BOSTON
RICHARD G. BADGER
The Gorham Press
1909

_Copyright 1908, by Ethel Allen Murphy_
_All Rights Reserved_
_The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A._

TO MY FRIEND AND TEACHER ANNA J. HAMILTON

The writer wishes to express her gratitude to the Art
Department of the Indiana University, whose kindness in
lending the pictures which suggested the verses, and whose
mission in opening some of their meanings to her spirit,
have helped to make possible this little book.

_CONTENTS_

_The Angel of Thought_ 13
(_Suggested by a Fra Angelico Angel._)

_Annunciation--Sonnet I_ 15

_Annunciation--Sonnet II_ 17
(_From the picture by Botticelli._)

_The Visitation_ 19
(_From the picture in Duerer's series on "The Life
of the Virgin"_)

_A Botticelli Madonna._

_I. The Wondering Angels_ 21
(_From the Madonna of the Magnificat._)

_II. The Mournful Mother_ 23
(_From the Madonna of the Pomegranate._)

_III. The Loving Christ_ 25
(_From the Madonna of the Rose Garden._)

_The Angel of the Jasmine Wreath_ 27
(_From Botticelli's painting, in the Borghese
Gallery, of the Madonna and Child with Angels._)

_A Prayer for the Followers of Ideal Beauty_ 29
(_With a pencil sketch of an angel, by Botticelli._)

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

1. _Angel--"Te Deum Laudamus," by Fra Angelico._ 12

2. _"The Annunciation"--by Botticelli._ 14

3. _"The Visitation" (From the picture in the series on
"The Life of the Virgin,") by Duerer._ 18

4. _"The Madonna of the Magnificat"--by Botticelli._ 20

5. _"The Madonna of the Pomegranate"--by Botticelli._ 22

6. _"The Madonna of the Rose Garden"--by Botticelli._ 24

7. _The Angel Crowned with a Jasmine Wreath--by Botticelli._ 26

8. _Pencil Sketch of an Angel--by Botticelli_. 28

THE ANGEL OF THOUGHT

(_Suggested by a Fra Angelico Angel_)

Angel of Thought, meseems God winged _thee_ so,
And crowned thine head with passion fine as flame,
And made thy lifted face too pure for shame,
With eyes and brow a mirror to His glow;--
And gave thy lips a golden trump, that, though
Long years have passed since other angels came
To work the mighty wonders of His name,--
In God's own name and man's, thyself shalt go
Forever on strong pinions to and fro,
And round the earth reverberating blow
The mute, world-shaking music of the mind;
That thou might'st make as naught all space and time,
And thrill in mystic oneness through mankind,
Yet dwell in each, inviolate, sublime.

ANNUNCIATION

(_From the picture by Botticelli_)

I

Kneeling in prayer, her spirit rapt above,
She meets with God, Who bendeth, brooding low,
In vast compassion humanward, and so,
There comes upon her life the power of Love:
Rising--behold! with pinions like a dove,
An angel with a rod where row on row
Of chaliced lilies spill supernal glow,--
Which all her thought to wonder mute doth move.
Then falls upon the rapture of her soul,
Dimly some vision of Gethsemane,
Athwart the Resurrection's shining goal,
And with uplifted hand she pleads as One
Shall pray in night of darkest agony,
"This cup remove,--yet, Lord, Thy Will be done."

ANNUNCIATION

(_From a picture by Botticelli_)