LET other thoughts, where'er I roam, Ne'er from my memory cancel The coffin-fashioned tomb at Frome That lies behind the chancel; A basket-work where bars are bent, Iron in place of osier, And shapes above that represent A mitre and a crosier. These signs of him that slumbers there The dignity betoken; These iron bars a heart declare Hard bent but never broken; This form pourtrays how souls like his, Their pride and passion quelling, Preferr'd to earth's high palaces This calm and narrow dwelling. There with the church-yard's common dust He loved his own to mingle; The faith in which he placed his trust Was nothing rare or single; Yet laid he to the sacred wall As close as he was able, The blessed crumbs might almost fall Upon him from God's table. Who was this Father of the Church, So secret in his glory? In vain might antiquarians search For record of his story; But preciously tradition keeps The fame of holy men; So there the Christian smiles or weeps For love of Bishop Ken. A name his country once forsook, But now with joy inherits, Confessor in the Church's book, And Martyr in the Spirit's! That dared with royal power to cope, In peaceful faith persisting, A braver Becket -- who could hope To conquer unresisting! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE POET'S TESTAMENT by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER, FR. SONGS OF EXPERIENCE by WILLIAM BLAKE ODE TO A HUMAN HEART by SAMUEL LAMAN BLANCHARD THE TEMPER (1) by GEORGE HERBERT CARLYLE AND EMERSON by MONTGOMERY SCHUYLER THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION: BOOK 2 by MARK AKENSIDE |