O eyes that strip the souls of men! There came to me the Magdalen. Her blue robe with a cord was bound, Her hair with knotted ivy crowned. "Arise," she said, "God calls for thee, Turned to new paths thy feet must be. Leave the fever and the feast, Leave the friend thou lovest best: For thou must walk in barefoot ways, On hills where God is near to praise." Then answered I -- "Sweet Magdalen, God's servant, once beloved of men, Why didst thou change old ways for new, Thy trailing red for corded blue, The rose for ivy on thy brow, That splendour for this barren vow?" Gentle of speech she answered me: -- "Sir, I was sick with revelry. True, I have scarred the night with sin, A pale and tawdry heroine; Yet once I heard a voice that said, 'Who lives in sin is like one dead, But follow: thy dark eyes shall see The towns of immortality.'" "O Mary, not for this," I cried, "Didst thou renounce thy scented pride Not for the roll of endless years Or fields of joy undewed by tears Didst thou desert the courts of men. Tell me thy truth, grave Magdalen!" She trembled, and her eyes grew dim: -- "For love of Him, for love of Him." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE STARLING; SONNET by AMY LOWELL THE TEST by RALPH WALDO EMERSON SONNET, WRITTEN IN JANUARY 1817 by JOHN KEATS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: LUCINDA MATLOCK by EDGAR LEE MASTERS EPISTLE TO DR. ENFIELD ON HIS REVISITING WARRINGTON IN 1789 by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE ROAD TO APPENZELL by HENRY GLASSFORD BELL |