I WAS the temple for a people's need; My columns and my towers lifted bright, Expressed the soaring ardours of their creed. My windows were the lanterns of their night; My naves were golden solitudes for prayer; My sepulchres enveloped those asleep; And I concealed the living soul's despair, In vestibules with pious love replete. Through severed arch, the mournful wind I hear, And my lone pillars that will never hold Aught but the dome of heaven, stand darkly bold, Like the bare crags, that from ebb tides appear. The mellow, sheathing shadows droop to hide My sadness, and the voices hushed of birds, Lull my deep slumber, throbbing, like the words Of love that on forsaken hearts abide. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO ELIZABETH, COUNTESS OF RUTLAND by BEN JONSON PRAYER OF A SOLDIER IN FRANCE by ALFRED JOYCE KILMER AIRLY BEACON by CHARLES KINGSLEY ZION, OR THE CITY OF GOD by JOHN NEWTON THE DISCOVERY; SONNET by JOHN COLLINGS SQUIRE THE FOUNDERS OF OHIO by WILLIAM HENRY VENABLE COMPANY COMMANDER by GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE |