UPON the faithful in the common things Enjoined of Duty, rarest blessings wait. A pious Nun (an ancient volume brings The legend and the lesson), while she sate Reading some scriptures of the Sacred Word, And marveling much at Christ's exceeding grace, Saw in her room a Vision of the Lord, With sudden splendor filling all the place! Whereat she knelt, enraptured; when a bell Signaled her hour to feed the convent's poor; Which humble duty done, she sought her cell, And lo! the Vision, brighter than before, Who, smiling, spake: "Even so is heaven obtained; I -- hadst thou lingered here -- had not remained!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ODE TO BEAUTY by RALPH WALDO EMERSON THE NATIONAL PAINTINGS: COL. TRUMBULL'S 'THE DECLARATION...' by FITZ-GREENE HALLECK MAIDENHOOD by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW EULALIE; A SONG by EDGAR ALLAN POE TO SHELLEY by JOHN BANISTER TABB THE BIRDS: THE HOOPOE'S CALL TO THE BIRDS by ARISTOPHANES ABSENCE by JOHN ARTHUR BLAIKIE |