Page:The Seaside and the Fireside.djvu/93

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Gaspar Becerra.
71
From a distant Eastern island
 Had the precious wood been brought;
Day and night the anxious master
 At his toil untiring wrought;

Till, discouraged and desponding,
 Sat he now in shadows deep,
And the day's humiliation
 Found oblivion in sleep.

Then a voice cried, “ Rise, O master!
 From the burning brand of oak
Shape the thought that stirs within thee!”
 And the startled artist woke,—

Woke, and from the smoking embers
 Seized and quenched the glowing wood;
And therefrom he carved an image,
 And he saw that it was good.

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