 | Miscellaneous Poems |  |
7
A. B.
[A ring of silver clouds above]
A ring of silver clouds above,
Floats round the moon in circles light;
As they were come, like handmaids bright,
To gaze, and wait on her they love.
Floats round the moon in circles light;
As they were come, like handmaids bright,
To gaze, and wait on her they love.
So holiest thoughts did round thee stand,
Nurs'd in their sweet and silent nest;
They said—as to thy bosom prest,
“Her soul is ever in her hand.”
Nurs'd in their sweet and silent nest;
They said—as to thy bosom prest,
“Her soul is ever in her hand.”
Her prayer—it in her meekness lies,
In meekness of the heart profound;
With eyes submissive to the ground;
So pray “the children of the wise.”
In meekness of the heart profound;
With eyes submissive to the ground;
So pray “the children of the wise.”
The Talmud directs the more devout Jews, and “the Disciples of the Wise,” to pray with their eyes downward. The humility of the Publican, says Grotius, made that submissive manner be imitated by Christians. He refers to Tertullian and to Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer. The usual attitude was, “In cœlum suspicientes, manibus expansis, capite nudo.”—1 Pauli Ep. Tim. ii. 8.
| Miscellaneous Poems | |