St. John's Eagle

He holds his course, he stoops not at command,
That stately-soaring Eagle of Saint John!
Though, all-agape, the learned critics stand
To lure him to their fancy-perch, upon
The lower rounds of time; straight up he soars
From holy Zion! bound by no Greek rules,
Nor held in leash by Alexandrian schools —
The mind of Christ, not Plato's, he explores;
Sunward he hies. Ye sages, clear your ken,
See true for once, and register your sight;
And in the note-books fretted by your pen,
While yet your eye-balls glow, the vision write:
And, when the unrighteous question stirs again,
Remember what you wrote as thoughtful men!