Strong to suffer, strong to sin, Loving much, and much forgiven, In the desert realm a queen, Penance-crowned, to cope with Heaven, Solitude alone could be Room enough for God and thee. Long the vigil, stern the fast; Morn, with night's anointing, chill; Noon with passion overcast; Night with phantoms fouler still; Prayer and penitential tears Battling with the lust of years. Low upon the parching sand, Shrivelled in the blight of day, As beneath a throbbing brand Prone thy ghastly shadow lay, Till the manacles of hell From thy fevered spirit fell. Then, O queen of solitude! Silence led thee as a bride, Clothed anew in maidenhood, To an altar purified, Lit with holy fires, to prove Self the sacrifice of love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...QUESTION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO THE MEMORY OF BEN JONSON by JOHN CLEVELAND SANDALPHON by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO LUCASTA, [ON] GOING TO THE WARS by RICHARD LOVELACE TO HIS DEAD BODY by SIEGFRIED SASSOON THE ELDER'S WARNING; A LAY OF THE CONVOCATION by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN |