THE TEMPLE IN DARKNESS
by: Dinah Maria (Mulock)
Craik (1826-1887)
- ARKNESS
broods upon the temple,
- Glooms along the lonely aisles,
- Fills up all the orient window,
- Whence, like little childrens wiles,
- Shadows--purple, azure, golden--
- Broke upon the floor in smiles.
-
- From the great heart of the organ
- Bursts no voice of chant or psalm;
- All the air, by music-pulses
- Stirred no more, is deathly calm;
- And no precious incense rising,
- Falls, like good mens prayer, in balm.
-
- Not a sound of living footstep
- Echoes on the marble floor;
- Not a sigh of stranger passing
- Pierces through the closèd door;
- Quenched the light upon the altar:
- Where the priest stood, none stands more.
-
- Lord, why hast Thou left Thy temple
- Scorned of man, disowned by Thee!
- Rather let Thy right hand crush it,
- None its desolation see!
- List--He who the temple builded
- Doth His will there. Let it be!
"The Temple in Darkness"
is reprinted from The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse.
Ed. Nicholson & Lee. Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1917. |
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POEMS BY DINAH MARIA CRAIK |
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