Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE OLD CHURCH ON THE HILL, by                    
First Line: Palid and cold as the morning star
Last Line: And taming its raging waves.
Subject(s): Churches; Churchyards; Graves; Nature - Religious Aspects; Prayer Meetings; Worship; Cathedrals; Tombs; Tombstones


Palid and cold as the morning star,
On the hill the old church stands;
A landmark tall, it is seen afar
In the circumjacent lands.

With cloud or with sunshine overhead,
With bloom and decay below;
Guiding the living, guarding the dead,
It watches the century go.

Here, long ago, the savage stood,
With be-scarred and painted breast;
And here, by the never resting flood,
He lies in unbroken rest.

The conquering pale-face too is here,
They slumber not far apart;—
God's children and Nature's—both lie near
To His and to Nature's heart.

We read on the fading marble page,
Such names as we speak to-day;
But He reads names of a race and age
Whose language has passed away.

They reared no fane for their praise and prayers,
Nor pondered ponderous tome;
They worshipped their fathers' God and theirs
Beneath Heavens' ampler dome.

Let priests in their old cathedrals lie,
And the kings their abbeys fill;
But these sleep well 'neath the older sky,
On the windy, Indian hill.

Farewell old church! I'll remember thee
On thy breezy swell of graves,
As a Pharos, lighting life's dark sea,
And taming its raging waves.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net