To learned Athens, led by fame, As once the man of Tarsus came, With pity and surprise 'Midst idol altars as he stood, O'er sculptured marble, brass and wood, He roll'd his awful eyes. But one, apart, his notice caught, That seemed with higher meaning fraught, Graved on the wounded stone: Nor form, nor name was there express'd; Deep reverence filled the musing breast, Perusing -- "To the God unknown." Age after age has rolled away, Altars and thrones have felt decay, Sages and saints have risen; And, like a giant roused from sleep Man has explored the pathless deep, And lightnings snatched from heaven. And many a shrine in dust is laid, Where kneeling nations homage paid, By rock, or fount, or grove: Ephesian Dian sees no more Her workmen fuse the silver ore, Nor capitolian Jove. E'en Salem's hallowed courts have ceas'd With solemn pomps her tribes to feast; No more the victim bleeds: To censers, filled with rare perfumes, And vestments from Egyptian looms, A purer rite succeeds. Yet still, where'er presumptuous man His Maker's essence strives to scan, And lifts his feeble hands; Tho' saint and sage their powers unite, To fathom that abyss of light, Ah! still that altar stands. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VALENTINES TO MY MOTHER: 1877 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS HOOD by BARTHOLOMEW SIMMONS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 35. AL-GHAFIR by EDWIN ARNOLD CALAIS SANDS by MATTHEW ARNOLD LEANDER DROWNED by PHILIP AYRES FRAGMENTS INTENDED FOR DEATH'S JEST-BOOK: SLEEPER'S COUNTENANCE by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES |