 | [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde |  |
TO [---]
An unknown fair one designated to me only as the sixteenth letter.
Lady! the brother of my heart demandsA hymn of praise to offer at thy shrine
But that which were Devotion at his hands,
Becomes mere blind Idolatry in mine:
For unrevealed to me by word or sign,
The fair Divinity I worship stands,
Around a shadow my fond faith I twine
Like to the Gentile of far times and lands.
They to a being whom they deemed divine
“The Unknown God—” a sacred temple raised,
And praised his nameless name, as I do thine,
Unknowing who, or what it was they praised—
Merely like me to murmur and repine,
That all in vain altar and incense blazed!
| [Poems by Wilde in] Richard Henry Wilde | |