Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DESIDERATUS MERCIER, by HENRY MORTON ROBINSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DESIDERATUS MERCIER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Go down, tall priest, to the iron sea
Last Line: Of comets hallowing his name.
Subject(s): Clergy; Comets; God; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops


Go down, Tall Priest, to the iron sea;
Slough the old cross of clay and bone;
Kneel, and whatever gods there be
Let them proclaim you for their own.

Under your cassock shines your sword;
The open Book is in your hand;
You knew, and taught, and spoke the Word
Of high insuperable command.

No steel was sharper than the lance
Of scorn you hurled at Belgium's foes;
Under the glacier of your glance
A hot, invading torrent froze.

Your spired cathedral fell; each stone
Rained like a death upon your head;
You stood in the red storm alone,
Comforting all, uncomforted.

And mitred only by your soul
Drew round you all your ravaged flock;
Laying aside your scholar's scroll
You were their refuge and their rock.

The tired earth, like a broken wheel
May falter on its track of dust,
But you, strong-sinewed with the steel
Of man's immortal, Godward thrust,

Have broken the clay bonds of fear,
And blazing into astral flame,
Have set a new star in the tier
Of comets hallowing His Name.





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