How patiently they did their work of old, Those cowled illuminators of the cells, Painting their vellum from the small ribbed shells That held the mystic carmine and the gold; Matching God's tints in every glowing fold, In nimbus, wing and robe; and by their spells, Seizing the living glory in the wells Of some great sunrise that His hand had scrolled. They made immortal cherubs that retain, In spite of Time and his effacing trace, Their pristine loveliness from age to age; As Death, the cowled one, with his brush of pain, Illuminates some lovely baby face, In sunrise tints on Memory's missal page. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SING-SONG; A NURSERY RHYME BOOK: 45 by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI MOON OF LOVELINESS by MUHAMMAD AL-MU'TAMID II PRAYER FOR A BOY WITH A KITE by DOROTHY P. ALBAUGH EPILOGUE TO LESSING'S LAOCOON by MATTHEW ARNOLD THE POWER OF WOMEN by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS MIDNIGHT FIRES by GORDON BOTTOMLEY |