Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PLACES OF WORSHIP, by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PLACES OF WORSHIP, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Spirit! Whose life-sustaining presence fills
Last Line: Their claim on human hearts to solemn tenderness.
Alternate Author Name(s): Browne, Felicia Dorothea
Subject(s): Public Worship; Church Attendance


SPIRIT! whose life-sustaining presence fills
Air, ocean, central depths by man untried,
Thou for thy worshippers hast sanctined
All place, all time! The silence of the hills
Breathes veneration, -- founts and choral rills
Of Thee are murmuring, -- to its inmost glade
The living forest with thy whisper thrills,
And there is holiness in every shade.
Yet must the thoughtful soul of man invest
With dearer consecration those pure fanes,
Which, severed from all sound of earth's unrest,
Hear naught but suppliant or adoring strains
Rise heavenward. Ne'er may rock or cave possess
Their claim on human hearts to solemn tenderness.





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