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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
LAMENT OVER THE RUINS OF THE ABBEY OF TEACH MOLOGA, by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: I wandered forth at night alone Last Line: The roaring of the wave Subject(s): Monasteries | |||
I wandered forth at night alone Along the dreary, shingly, billow-beaten shore; Sadness that night was in my bosom's core, My soul and strength lay prone. The thin wan moon, half overveiled By clouds, shed her funereal beams upon the scene; While in low tones, with many a pause between, The mournful night-wind wailed. Musing of Life, and Death, and Fate, I slowly paced along, heedless of aught around, Till on the hill, now, alas! ruin-crowned, Lo! the old Abbey-gate! Dim in the pallid moonlight stood, Crumbling to slow decay, the remnant of that pile Within which dwelt so many saints erewhile In loving brotherhood! The memory of the men who slept Under those desolate walls-the solitude-the hour- Mine own lorn mood of mind-all joined to o'erpower My spirit-and I wept! In yonder Goshen once-I thought- Reigned Piety and Peace: Virtue and Truth were there; With Charity and the blessed spirit of Prayer Was each fleet moment fraught! There, unity of Work and Will Blent hundreds into one: no jealousies or jars Troubled their placid lives: their fortunate stars Had triumphed o'er all Ill! There, kneeled each morn and even The Bell for Matin-Vesper: Mass was said or sung- From the bright silver censer as it swung Rose balsamy clouds to Heaven. Through the round cloistered corridors A many a midnight hour, bareheaded and unshod, Walked the Grey Friars, beseeching from their God Peace for these western shores. The weary pilgrim bowed by Age Oft found asylum there-found welcome, and found wine. Oft rested in its halls the Paladine, The Poet and the Sage! Alas! alas! how dark the change! Now round its mouldering walls, over its pillars low, The grass grows rank, the yellow gowans blow, Looking so sad and strange! Unsightly stones choke up its wells; The owl hoots all night long under the altar-stairs; The fox and badger make their darksome lairs In its deserted cells! Tempest and Time-the drifting sands- The lightning and the rains-the seas that sweep around These hills in winter-nights, have awfully crowned The work of impious hands! The sheltering, smooth-stoned massive wall- The noble figured roof-the glossy marble piers- The monumental shapes of elder years- Where are they? Vanished all! Rite, incense, chant, prayer, mass, have ceased- All, all have ceased! Only the whitening bones half sunk In the earth now tell that ever here dwelt monk, Friar, acolyte, or priest. Oh! woe, that Wrong should triumph thus! Woe that the olden right, the rule and the renown Of the Pure-souled and Meek should thus go down Before the Tyrannous! Where wert thou, Justice, in that hour? Where was thy smiting sword? What had those good men done, That thou shouldst tamely see them trampled on By brutal England's Power? Alas! I rave! . . . If Change is here, Is it not o'er the land? Is it not too in me? Yes! I am changed even more than what I see. Now is my last goal near! My worn limbs fail-my blood moves cold- Dimness is on mine eyes-I have seen my children die; They lie where I too in brief space shall lie- Under the grassy mould! I turned away, as toward my grave, And, all my dark way homeward by the Atlantic's verge, Resounded in mine ears like to a dirge The roaring of the wave. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SEMBLABLES by WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS VERSES FROM THE GRANDE CHARTREUSE by MATTHEW ARNOLD NETLEY ABBEY; A LEGEND OF HAMPSHIRE by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM A NIGHT FANCY by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE ELEGY ON NEWSTEAD ABBEY by GEORGE GORDON BYRON NEWSTEAD ABBEY by GEORGE GORDON BYRON SONNET WRITTEN IN A RUINOUS ABBEY by SUSAN EVANCE WRITTEN AT NETLEY ABBEY by SUSAN EVANCE THE ABBEY MASON (WITH MEMORIES OF JOHN HICKS, ARCHITECT) by THOMAS HARDY A VISION OF CONNAUGHT IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY by JAMES CLARENCE MANGAN |
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