YET many a Novice of the cloistral shade, And many chained by vows, with eager glee The warrant hail, exulting to be free; Like ships before whose keels, full long embayed In polar ice, propitious winds have made Unlooked-for outlet to an open sea, Their liquid world, for bold discovery, In all her quarters temptingly displayed! Hope guides the young; but when the old must pass The threshold, whither shall they turn to find The hospitality -- the alms (alas! Alms may be needed) which that House bestowed? Can they, in faith and worship, train the mind To keep this new and questionable road? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLD MOTHERS by CHARLES SARSFIELD ROSS ABBEY ASAROE by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM TWO SONNETS: 1. CHRIST AND LOVE'S ROSE-CROWN by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) AN OLD BURYING GROUND by ELFRIDA DE RENNE BARROW IN FESTUBERT by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: PROGRESS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |