Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, IN ARA-CAELI, by FREDERIC ROWLAND MARVIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

IN ARA-CAELI, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: O holy lies, how have ye, one and all
Last Line: Than god, eternal truth, and liberty.
Subject(s): Faith; Belief; Creed


O HOLY lies, how have ye, one and all,
Our blind and groping human race deceived!
Devout they were who could not trust in God,
Yet in monk Luca's pictures of our Lord,
And in the "Holy Coat" at Treves believed.
The mighty Spirit who created all,
And to our crumbling dust Himself imparts,
Seemed scarcely worth an idle passing thought.
Celestial roses dropped from Paradise,
And speaking crucifixes, deftly wrought
In hallowed falsehood and ecstatic prayer,
Appeared, in every time and everywhere,
More worthy faith divine and bended knee
Than God, eternal truth, and liberty.





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