University of Virginia Library

I.

In common with humanity I sought
A New Jerusalem with golden floors,
And diamond-studded opal-handled doors,
And held our grimy earth for less than nought:
Some echo of the melody I thought
That through the pearly gates incessant pours,
A soft suggested hint of heavenly oars
On crystal streams, attentive ears had caught.
But now the vision fadeth, and instead
I find my longed-for city very clear
In spite of London fog before me here,
And here a crown, it may be, for my head
Of truer import than the splendours shed
On saints by former creeds accounted dear.