University of Virginia Library

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353

XLVII
A VALEDICTORY ASPIRATION

Let us pray, in fine, for those truly sacred offices which are not in reality conferred by any right of succession, but do at times impose themselves.

Of Priestcraft

Could God have given me my desire,
Or if God would grant it now and here,
One boon, I wot,
Should wreathe my lot
As the star is wreathed by a fire—
Fair aim, high purpose, but far, I fear!

I would put my making of songs aside—
Vain strife to utter what can't be said;
And it should be mine
The bread and wine,
By mighty mass-words deified,
To change in substance from wine and bread.

And then in some lonely fane apart,
Or—little matters—in crowded street,
With a soul contrite,
From altar's height
I would nourish the empty heart
With hidden manna and angels' meat.

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354

That which has hinder'd me hinders yet,
Though the higher part of faith is mine;
'Tis the gift to know
That here below,
Fair as the blazon'd signs are set
They shadow only the things divine.

Holy and grand though the Church may be,
The types it mixes with things foreshewn,
And a place denies
To the too keen eyes
Which past the mundane types can see,
And, symbols past, to the truth unknown.

Yet may I hope, is it over bold?—
Somehow, somewhere—it shall come to pass,
While I still live,
That my King shall give
To me, like Lancelot, Knight of old,
Grace, and a twelvemonth to sing my Mass.