UNVEIL, O Lord, and on us shine In glory and in grace; This gaudy world grows pale before The beauty of Thy face. Till Thou art seen, it seems to be A sort of fairy ground, Where suns unsetting light the sky, And flowers and fruits abound. But when Thy keener, purer beam Is pour'd upon our sight, It loses all its power to charm, And what was day is night. Its noblest toils are then the scourge Which made Thy blood to flow; Its joys are but the treacherous thorns Which circled round Thy brow. And thus, when we renounce for Thee Its restless aims and fears, The tender memories of the past, The hopes of coming years, Poor is our sacrifice, whose eyes Are lighted from above; We offer what we cannot keep, What we have ceased to love | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN THIS AGE OF HARD TRYING, NONCHALANCE IS GOOD AND by MARIANNE MOORE THE FUNERAL TREE OF THE SOKOKIS by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER THE TENT ON THE BEACH: 10. THE PALATINE by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER SORCERY by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A NEW PILGRIMAGE: 6 by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT HOOKER'S ACROSS by GEORGE HENRY BOKER |