ONCE, where the unentered Temple stood, at noon No sun-ray pierced the dim unwindowed aisle; And all the flooding whiteness of the moon Could only bathe the outer peristyle. And as we passed we praised the Temple front; But one went in; with careless feet he trod The long-forgotten pavement moss'd and blunt And found the altar of the unprayed-to God. He reached and lit the tapers of the shrine And let their radiance flood the vault obscure; But ah! upon what evil things to shine, Blind, crawling, chill, discoloured, and impure. Burn on, O Light, burn clearer in the gloom, And show the foulness of the illumin'd room. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOMAGE TO SEXTUS PROPERTIUS: 8 by EZRA POUND THE LAST WISH by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON TO HIS DEAD BODY by SIEGFRIED SASSOON ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 3: 34. MUTABILITY by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH RUNNING TO PARADISE by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES by ALEXANDER ANDERSON EAST AND WEST by MATTHEW ARNOLD |