THE perfect world by Adam trod, Was the first temple -- built by God -- His fiat laid the corner-stone, And heaved its pillars, one by one. He hung its starry roof on high -- The broad illimitable sky; He spread its pavement, green and bright, And curtain'd it with morning light. The mountains in their places stood -- The sea -- the sky -- and "all was good;" And, when its first pure praises rang, The "morning stars together sang." Lord! 'tis not ours to make the sea And earth and sky a house for thee; But in thy sight our off'ring stands -- A humbler temple, "made with hands." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SUN-DAY HYMN [OR LAMENT] by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES THE FIRST BLUEBIRD by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY FOR A MARRIAGE OF SAINT KATHERINE [OR, CATHERINE] by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI GONERIL'S LULLABY, FR. KING LEAR'S WIFE by GORDON BOTTOMLEY ROSAMUND GRIEF by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |