A Statuette. <br /> <br />I. <br /> <br />MY white archangel, with thy steadfast eyes <br />Beholding all this empty ghost-filled room, <br />Thy clasped hands resting on the sword of doom, <br />Thy firm, close lips, not made for human sighs <br />Or smiles, or kisses sweet, or bitter cries, <br />But for divine exhorting, holy song <br />And righteous counsel, bold from seraph tongue. <br />Beautiful angel, strong as thou art wise, <br />Would that the sight of thee made wise and strong! <br />Would that this sheathèd sword of thine, which lies <br />Stonily idle, could gleam out among <br />The spiritual hosts of enemies <br />That tempting shriek--'Requite thou wrong with wrong.' <br />Lama Sabachthani,--How long, how long. <br /> <br /> <br />II. <br /> <br />MICHAEL, the leader of the hosts of God, <br />Who warred with Satan for the body of him <br />Whom, living, God had loved--If cherubim <br />With cherubim contended for one clod <br />Of human dust, for forty years that trod <br />The gloomy desert of Heaven's chastisement, <br />Are there not ministering angels sent <br />To battle with the devils that roam abroad, <br />Clutching our living souls? 'The living, still <br />The living, they shall praise Thee!'--Let some great <br />Invisible spirit enter in and fill <br />The howling chambers of hearts desolate; <br />With looks like thine, O Michael, strong and wise, <br />My white archangel with the steadfast eyes.<br /><br />Dinah Maria Mulock Craik<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/michael-the-archangel/
