UNDER the trees of pilgrimage Two wedded lovers rode, And made by night beneath the boughs Their wandering abode. And as with little laughing talk They rested by the flame Along the path of pilgrimage A preaching friar came. Weary he was with many a league, So long the race he ran, And speed was all the road he trod; Lean were his limbs and thewed with God, He was a mighty man. With a high air and insolent He viewed those lovers' cheer, And hailed them with a scornful voice: 'Sluggards, why rest ye here? 'Know ye not well how far from here Your Father's house is built, How listlessness upon the way Is more than all of guilt? 'Keep ye the business of the way— Those high perfections three, Obedience, virginal desire, And holy poverty? Up, up, neglect those changing eyes, This shy pretended peace! What place hath love within the law, Or what your joy's increase?' Answered the bride: 'What angry foot Sounds here that never paced Where all is tranquil urgency And naught is toilsome haste? 'Thy versicles upon the road Cry: @3Nought save God can be:@1 O foolishness! without our clear Response: @3These too are He!@1 'Triple the arduous oaths ye took Ere your way was begun, But we, once sworn, were sworn to all The darkling three-in-one. 'O Chastity!—but we were pledged Of old to Him alone! O Poverty!—but save for Him Riches we have not known! 'O dear Obedience!—but the law That orders us is seen, Love that is He and is ourselves And all the bonds between! 'We two were pledged to follow Him Where'er that guiding went, Stripped of possession and desire And foreign government. 'I gave myself to love, and truth Therein and poverty; And even so, by cross and Christ, My lord was given to me. 'One is the road of pilgrimage We follow, noon and night, Towards the house on the high hill In our midmost Delight. 'And when we rest beside our fire Because the way grows dim, The way hath borne us, ere the dawn, A thousand miles to Him. 'Fair chance upon your pilgrimage Befall you, preaching friar; We rest, far distant from the End, Yet thou perchance no nigher.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CUDDLE DOON by ALEXANDER ANDERSON SELF-INTERROGATION by EMILY JANE BRONTE ST. ISAAC'S CHURCH, PETROGRAD by CLAUDE MCKAY WORLD'S WORTH by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI ARCADIA: SESTINA by PHILIP SIDNEY TREES IN AUTUMN by ANNE MILLAY BREMER |