 | Miscellaneous Poems |  |
47
CONTRA. SYMMACHUM.
“Quare age mortalis, soli mihi construe Templum,” &c.
Raise the confiding prayer, and bend the knee.
I ask no gilded roof, no fretted shrine,
Where the rich spoils of distant quarries shine,
Far Sparta's emerald stone, the roseate glow
Of Afric's rocks, or slabs of Parian snow
Dragg'd from the deep to deck each orient cell,
Be mine no purple from the Tyrian shell;
To me small joy such marble shrines impart,
My home—the temple of the human heart.
Faith shall its strong foundation lay, while near
Sweet Love and Piety the call shall hear;
The roof, firm Justice build; along the floor
Strewing her blushing flowers from door to door,
Shall meek-eyed Modesty the Portress be,
Herself the fairest, of the temple free.
48
Such roof is worthy its celestial guest.
Nor strange the site I choose, for once before
A mortal shape immortal glory wore.
With plastic hand, well-pleas'd the Godhead made
On Earth a tenement his beams to shade,
In his pure bosom pour'd celestial breath,
The incarnate Word—the Man of Nazareth.
| Miscellaneous Poems | |