RELIGIOUS LOVE! it is most sure and true, That Man, before he felt the dank night-air Of this our nether birth, thy kingdom knew, And bathed his Spirit in the day-spring there. Else could world-withered age and flippant youth, Minds of unloving and unlovely mould, Who hold the "ancient lie" for solid truth, And prize its wretched life-dross all as gold, -- Could these, the minions of the dust, -- even these, Descant of thee as a familiar name, -- Detect thy signs, revere thy mysteries, And, godless else, adore thy altar-flame? And Poets too have been, who boldly own They never felt thy influence o'er them shine, But whose high Art has built thee many a throne, Where thou canst fitly sit, confessed divine. @3Remember@1 then, oh Pilgrim! and beware, -- Thou, with that Memory for a master-key, Wilt open Heaven, and be no alien there, -- For as thou honourest Love -- so will Love honour thee. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ISAIAH, JEREMIAH, EXEKIEL, DANIEL by MARIANNE MOORE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI: 3. FULL MOON by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER TO HIS MISTRESS OBJECTING TO HIM NEITHER TOYING OR TALKING by ROBERT HERRICK THE LADDER OF SAINT AUGUSTINE by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE VANISHERS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION; A POEM. ENLARGED VERSION: BOOK 2 by MARK AKENSIDE |