I ENTERED once, at break of day, A chapel, lichen-stained and gray, Where a congregation dozed and heard An old monk read from a written Word. No light through the window-panes could pass, For shutters were closed on the rich stained-glass; And in a gloom like the nether night The monk read on by a taper's light. Ghostly with shadows, that shrank and grew As the dim light flared, were aisle and pew; And the congregation that dozed around Listened without a stir or sound -- Save one, who rose with wistful face, And shifted a shutter from its place. Then light flashed in like a flashing gem -- For dawn had come unknown to them -- And a slender beam, like a lance of gold, Shot to the crimson curtain-fold, Over the bended head of him Who pored and pored by the taper dim; And it kindled over his wrinkled brow Such words: "The law which was till now;" And I wondered that, under that morning ray, When night and shadow were scattered away, The monk should bow his locks of white By a taper's feebly flickering light -- Should pore, and pore, and never seem To notice the golden morning-beam. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AN ENGLISH MOTHER by ROBERT UNDERWOOD JOHNSON THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 22 by OMAR KHAYYAM AGAMEMNON: THE BEACONS by AESCHYLUS THE PUZZLE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN FIVE LITTLE WANDERINGS: 1. BABYHOOD by BERTON BRALEY THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD: AGLAIA. A PASTORAL by NICHOLAS BRETON |