 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
XV. FORM OF CONSECRATION FOR A NEW HOUSE.
I bless thy new-raised threshold: let us prayThat never faithless friend, insulting foe,
O'er this pure stone their hateful shadows throw:
May the poor gather round it day by day.
I bless this hearth: thy children here shall play:
Here may their graces and their virtues blow:
May sin defile it not; and want and woe
And sickness seldom come, nor come to stay.
I bless thy House. I consecrate the whole
To God. It is His Temple. Let it be
Worthy of Him, confided thus to thee.
Man's dwelling, like its lord, enshrines a soul:
It hath great destinies, wherein do lie,
Self-sown, the seeds of Immortality.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |