Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs By Walter Thornbury. Illustrated by J. Whistler, F. Walker, John Tenniel, J. D. Watson, W. Small, F. Sandys, G. J. Pinwell, T. Morten, M. J. Lawless, and many others |
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The Great West Window.
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 | Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs |  |
The Great West Window.
AN OLD CATHEDRAL LEGEND.
The great west window was framed and done;
How proud was its painter, Father John!
The watchings by night at the furnace door,
The long days' ponderings, all were o'er;
The fires were quenched, and the fluxes and paints,
The tracings of monarchs, and prophets, and saints
Were rolled and labelled, and hidden away,
And life for Friar John was all holiday;
His brushes were thrown in the nettly croft,
And so was the palette he'd used so oft.
But when he saw that shining rood
Glow like sunset seen through a wood,
There rose in his soul a wicked pride,
And his heart beat quick with a fuller tide,
Nor thought Friar John, as his work he eyed,
If God in that work was glorified.
How proud was its painter, Father John!
The watchings by night at the furnace door,
The long days' ponderings, all were o'er;
The fires were quenched, and the fluxes and paints,
The tracings of monarchs, and prophets, and saints
Were rolled and labelled, and hidden away,
And life for Friar John was all holiday;
His brushes were thrown in the nettly croft,
And so was the palette he'd used so oft.
But when he saw that shining rood
Glow like sunset seen through a wood,
There rose in his soul a wicked pride,
And his heart beat quick with a fuller tide,
Nor thought Friar John, as his work he eyed,
If God in that work was glorified.
36
The window was a wondrous thing,
Blooming with an eternal spring
Of jewel colours and precious dyes,
Deep and rich as the western skies
Such as the depths of the forest hide;
Lapis-sapphire for martyr's robe;
Scarlet for Herod's fiery pride;
Ruby for Michael's flaming sword;
Golden splendour for crown and globe
Of David, the chosen of the Lord;
Amethyst, emerald, peacock's dyes,
At summer sunsets, and hues of flowers
That start up purple after the showers—
The rose's crimson and iris bloom;
Sunny lustres and topaz gloom,
Encircling a pale sad face,
A glory lighting it shed from skies
That shone like God's own dwelling-place:
And all these burned and melted so,
That there was within a kingly glow,
A pulse of light, a life-blood flowing,
Its varied colours ever showing.
Blooming with an eternal spring
Of jewel colours and precious dyes,
Deep and rich as the western skies
Such as the depths of the forest hide;
Lapis-sapphire for martyr's robe;
Scarlet for Herod's fiery pride;
Ruby for Michael's flaming sword;
Golden splendour for crown and globe
Of David, the chosen of the Lord;
Amethyst, emerald, peacock's dyes,
At summer sunsets, and hues of flowers
That start up purple after the showers—
The rose's crimson and iris bloom;
Sunny lustres and topaz gloom,
Encircling a pale sad face,
A glory lighting it shed from skies
That shone like God's own dwelling-place:
And all these burned and melted so,
That there was within a kingly glow,
A pulse of light, a life-blood flowing,
Its varied colours ever showing.
37
What wonder, then, that as John gazed,
As in a mirror, he saw upraised
The veil that hides the spirit world,
And the dim curtain slowly furled,
Showing behind that crystal wall,
Fiends that danced and mocked at his fall,
Wild monsters beaked, and fanged, and horned,
Goblins that him and his glass saints scorned,
And sneering Satan above them all.
But Friar John prayed full loud and long,
And chanted many a holy song,
And read his vesper service through,
Ave and Pater not a few,
Till heaven opened, and angel and saint
Came to comfort that sinner faint
With prayer and promise; and now again,
With purer eye and calmer brain,
He looked, and through the coloured screen
That parted earth from heaven's serene,
He saw, through flushes of rainbow dyes,
The opening gates of Paradise.
As in a mirror, he saw upraised
The veil that hides the spirit world,
And the dim curtain slowly furled,
Showing behind that crystal wall,
Fiends that danced and mocked at his fall,
Wild monsters beaked, and fanged, and horned,
Goblins that him and his glass saints scorned,
And sneering Satan above them all.
But Friar John prayed full loud and long,
And chanted many a holy song,
And read his vesper service through,
Ave and Pater not a few,
Till heaven opened, and angel and saint
Came to comfort that sinner faint
With prayer and promise; and now again,
With purer eye and calmer brain,
He looked, and through the coloured screen
That parted earth from heaven's serene,
He saw, through flushes of rainbow dyes,
The opening gates of Paradise.
| Historical & Legendary Ballads & Songs | |