 | Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy |  |
38
ABBOT'S DAY, May 15
ENGELBERG
Anselm, this morn, the morn of middle May,
Break never fairer; never from the height
Did angels blither sing at morning light,
Than when the matin-bell bade souls to pray
On this thy namesake's high memorial day,
When Conrad's convent-church, that all the night
Lay hushed with expectation, woke, with might
Of pipe and string, its Hallelujah lay.
Break never fairer; never from the height
Did angels blither sing at morning light,
Than when the matin-bell bade souls to pray
On this thy namesake's high memorial day,
When Conrad's convent-church, that all the night
Lay hushed with expectation, woke, with might
Of pipe and string, its Hallelujah lay.
But, Abbot, not the incense-bearing priest,
Nor chant of choir and music in accord,
So seemed to celebrate thy golden rule,
As these old men unbidden to the feast,
Who, trained from youth in this thy convent school,
Knelt in the church and blessed the convent's Lord.
Nor chant of choir and music in accord,
So seemed to celebrate thy golden rule,
As these old men unbidden to the feast,
Who, trained from youth in this thy convent school,
Knelt in the church and blessed the convent's Lord.
| Sonnets in Switzerland and Italy | |