Strong to suffer, strong to sin, Loving much, and much forgiven, In the desert realm a queen, Penance-crowned, to cope with Heaven, Solitude alone could be Room enough for God and thee. Long the vigil, stern the fast; Morn, with night's anointing, chill; Noon with passion overcast; Night with phantoms fouler still; Prayer and penitential tears Battling with the lust of years. Low upon the parching sand, Shrivelled in the blight of day, As beneath a throbbing brand Prone thy ghastly shadow lay, Till the manacles of hell From thy fevered spirit fell. Then, O queen of solitude! Silence led thee as a bride, Clothed anew in maidenhood, To an altar purified, Lit with holy fires, to prove Self the sacrifice of love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THREE KINGS OF ORIENT by JOHN HENRY HOPKINS JR. AUTUMN DAY by RAINER MARIA RILKE IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 83 by ALFRED TENNYSON THE CATERPILLAR by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD A MOTHER'S DREAM by MATHILDE BLIND THE ELDER WOMAN'S SONG: 2, FR. KING LEAR'S WIFE by GORDON BOTTOMLEY AFTER A TEMPEST by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE WANDERER: 3. IN ENGLAND: 'CARPE DIEM' by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |