 | Stones from The Quarry |  |
THE FURNACE TEST.
Into this oven do I put this clayOf frail mortality, with twofold fire
Of Faith and Genius, making it transpire
And sweat its frailties out; that so it may,
A vessel purified, be fit to lay
On Truth's high altar, ever sweeter, higher
The incense of its every desire,
The while the earthlier part slow burns away.
Alas! it may not stand the heat divine,
But cracks and flaws; and the old Adam shows
His image in it, Lord, instead of Thine,
Which in the cooling like the vessel grows;
As duller from within that light doth shine,
And duller in that heat the coarse clay glows!
| Stones from The Quarry | |