 | The collected poems of William Ellery Channing the younger, 1817-1901 |  |
CHRISTIAN SONG OF THE MIDDLE AGES.
BY WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING.
Like waving vine the hard stone bends
Into cathedrals soft and free,
An angel every coping tends,
The fretwork blesses sacredly.
Into cathedrals soft and free,
An angel every coping tends,
The fretwork blesses sacredly.
The virgin with the Holy Child,
Shines o'er the altar's golden cross,
A lovely mother pure and mild,
Whose heaven mourns no virtue's loss.
Shines o'er the altar's golden cross,
A lovely mother pure and mild,
Whose heaven mourns no virtue's loss.
The swelling anthem dies away
In mournful music sweet and slow,
To celebrate that sacred day
On which Christ's blood drank up our woe.
In mournful music sweet and slow,
To celebrate that sacred day
On which Christ's blood drank up our woe.
| The collected poems of William Ellery Channing the younger, 1817-1901 | |