A Poem to Burne-Jones

The Golden Age was with us while he stayed:

For the Seven Angels knew him, and their wings

Were stilled for him to paint; the Wizard Kings

Showed him the Orient treasures, which they laid

At the Infant's feet; the Courts of Love obeyed

His incantations; every Myth which brings

Light out of darkness seemed imaginings

Of God, or things that God himself had made.

O Painter of the Golden Age--return!

Earth is less fair without thee. Our sad eyes

Are wearing of a dreamless day--and night,

Duller than darkness, lit by lamps which burn

Only at earthly shrines--while Paradise,

Lost for the second time, slips out of sight.

Found in Five Great Painters of the Victorian Era, opening the section on Edward Burne-Jones. Authorship unknown.