SPIRIT! whose life-sustaining presence fills Air, ocean, central depths by man untried, Thou for thy worshippers hast sanctined All place, all time! The silence of the hills Breathes veneration, -- founts and choral rills Of Thee are murmuring, -- to its inmost glade The living forest with thy whisper thrills, And there is holiness in every shade. Yet must the thoughtful soul of man invest With dearer consecration those pure fanes, Which, severed from all sound of earth's unrest, Hear naught but suppliant or adoring strains Rise heavenward. Ne'er may rock or cave possess @3Their@1 claim on human hearts to solemn tenderness. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RIDDLE ON THE LETTER H (2) by CATHERINE MARIA FANSHAWE COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY THE LACHRYMATORY by CHARLES TENNYSON TURNER THE EUMENIDES: CHORUS by AESCHYLUS THE WOODLANDS by WILLIAM BARNES PSALM 141 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE THE IDLERS by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |