GENIUS of Raphael! if thy wings <br />Might bear thee to this glen, <br />With faithful memory left of things <br />To pencil dear and pen, <br />Thou would'st forego the neighbouring Rhine, <br />And all his majesty-- <br />A studious forehead to incline <br />O'er this poor family. <br /> <br />The Mother--her thou must have seen, <br />In spirit, ere she came <br />To dwell these rifted rocks between, <br />Or found on earth a name; <br />An image, too, of that sweet Boy, <br />Thy inspirations give-- <br />Of playfulness, and love, and joy, <br />Predestined here to live. <br /> <br />Downcast, or shooting glances far, <br />How beautiful his eyes, <br />That blend the nature of the star <br />With that of summer skies! <br />I speak as if of sense beguiled; <br />Uncounted months are gone, <br />Yet am I with the Jewish Child, <br />That exquisite Saint John. <br /> <br />I see the dark-brown curls, the brow, <br />The smooth transparent skin, <br />Refined, as with intent to show <br />The holiness within; <br />The grace of parting Infancy <br />By blushes yet untamed; <br />Age faithful to the mother's knee, <br />Nor of her arms ashamed. <br /> <br />Two lovely Sisters, still and sweet <br />As flowers, stand side by side; <br />Their soul-subduing looks might cheat <br />The Christian of his pride: <br />Such beauty hath the Eternal poured <br />Upon them not forlorn, <br />Though of a lineage once abhorred, <br />Nor yet redeemed from scorn. <br /> <br />Mysterious safeguard, that, in spite <br />Of poverty and wrong, <br />Doth here preserve a living light, <br />From Hebrew fountains sprung; <br />That gives this ragged group to cast <br />Around the dell a gleam <br />Of Palestine, of glory past, <br />And proud Jerusalem!<br /><br />William Wordsworth<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-jewish-family-in-a-small-valley-opposite-st-goar-upon-the-rhine/
