HOW sad a welcome! To each voyager Some ragged child holds up for sale a store Of wave-worn pebbles, pleading on the shore Where once came monk and nun with gentle stir, Blessings to give, news ask, or suit prefer. Yet is yon neat trim church a grateful speck Of novelty amid the sacred wreck Strewn far and wide. Think, proud Philosopher! Fallen though she be, this Glory of the west, Still on her sons, the beams of mercy shine; And "hopes, perhaps more heavenly bright than thine, A grace by thee unsought and unpossest, A faith more fixed, a rapture more divine, Shall gild their passage to eternal rest." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE SOUL'S EXPRESSION by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING ALL IS VANITY, SAITH THE PREACHER' by GEORGE GORDON BYRON ON THE UNIVERSITY CARRIER by JOHN MILTON HUSBANDMAN'S SONG, FR. KING RENE'S HONEYMOON by GORDON BOTTOMLEY THE MAIN DRAG by BERTON BRALEY |