'TIS of the Father Hilary. He strove, but could not pray; so took The steep-coiled stair, where his feet shook A sad blind echo. Ever up He toiled. 'Twas a sick sway of air That autumn noon within the stair, As dizzy as a turning cup. His brain benumbed him, void and thin; He shut his eyes and felt it spin; The obscure deafness hemmed him in. He said: 'O world, what world for me?' He leaned unto the balcony Where the chime keeps the night and day; It hurt his brain, he could not pray. He had his face upon the stone: Deep 'twixt the narrow shafts, his eye Passed all the roofs to the stark sky, Swept with no wing, with wind alone. Close to his feet the sky did shake With wind in pools that the rains make: The ripple set his eyes to ache. He said: 'O world, what world for me?' He stood within the mystery Girding God's blessed Eucharist: The organ and the chant had ceas'd. The last words paused against his ear Said from the altar: drawn round him The gathering rest was dumb and dim. And now the sacring-bell rang clear And ceased; and all was awe,--the breath Of God in man that warranteth The inmost utmost things of faith. He said: 'O God, my world in Thee!' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OUR LADY by MARY ELIZABETH COLERIDGE SONNET TO A NEGRO IN HARLEM by HELENE JOHNSON A TERRIBLE INFANT by FREDERICK LOCKER-LAMPSON AN IRISH AIRMAN FORESEES HIS DEATH by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 64. AL-KAIYUM by EDWIN ARNOLD OFF MESOLONGI by ALFRED AUSTIN |