 | Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious |  |
60
WESTMINSTER ABBEY.
Through twilight aisles and arches flows
A flood of rich and solemn sound.
Here England's mightiest men repose,
Here England's kings are crowned.
A flood of rich and solemn sound.
Here England's mightiest men repose,
Here England's kings are crowned.
Oh, who can say death levels all?
Death sets the great of earth sublime
Each on his own just pedestal,
A landmark of the time.
Death sets the great of earth sublime
Each on his own just pedestal,
A landmark of the time.
And clearer, purer, seems their fame
Out of the silent past to glow,
Than when the people mixed their name
With daily joy and woe.
Out of the silent past to glow,
Than when the people mixed their name
With daily joy and woe.
It is because we thus revere
The mighty dead, the glorious past,
We hope that many a future year
May reap the seed they cast
The mighty dead, the glorious past,
We hope that many a future year
May reap the seed they cast
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Into the earth, which often gives
Back what we thought for ever gone.
A thousand years—and Alfred lives
Again, in Washington.
Back what we thought for ever gone.
A thousand years—and Alfred lives
Again, in Washington.
Through slow and silent length of time
The rain and sunshine of the sky
Nourish the cedar to its prime,
And spread its boughs on high.
The rain and sunshine of the sky
Nourish the cedar to its prime,
And spread its boughs on high.
And thus did our forefathers build;
Year following year, stone following stone.
The founder's purpose was fulfilled
By labour not his own.
Year following year, stone following stone.
The founder's purpose was fulfilled
By labour not his own.
The father left the walls begun;
His child, obeying his desire,
Still at the sacred work went on;
His grandson crowned the spire.
His child, obeying his desire,
Still at the sacred work went on;
His grandson crowned the spire.
They toiled like faithful men and true,
Whose works on earth deserve to last;
Men of a reverent heart, that knew
How deeply in the past
Whose works on earth deserve to last;
Men of a reverent heart, that knew
How deeply in the past
The living present has its root;
And in the future age must bear
Such wholesome or such deadly fruit
As best rewards our care.
And in the future age must bear
Such wholesome or such deadly fruit
As best rewards our care.
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That which we reap we have not sown,
And what we sow we shall not reap,
Nor watch it till its fruit is grown;
It groweth while we sleep.
And what we sow we shall not reap,
Nor watch it till its fruit is grown;
It groweth while we sleep.
Yet what would all that's here be worth,
And wherefore all our toil and strife,
Were graves our final homes on earth,
And death the end of life;
And wherefore all our toil and strife,
Were graves our final homes on earth,
And death the end of life;
If God our Father did not keep
A mansion in the heavenly dome,
Where all that sow and all that reap
Shall join in harvest home?
A mansion in the heavenly dome,
Where all that sow and all that reap
Shall join in harvest home?
| Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious | |