Ill fares the priest to-day, who blinks the faith Of Easter, and, recoiling from the shock Of the great theme submitted to his flock, Reserves his thoughts about the Life and Death; How false he feels when our high feast returns! While, in his pulpit, on his sidelong eye The chalice gleams, the great East window burns, The snow-white board obtrudes its purity; And he must go and bless it - yea, he goes! Though covert ironies within him ask Whether, in very deed, our Day-star rose; 'Tis sad to see him how he takes his mask To meet the morning! timid and untrue, And missing all the sweet airs and the dew! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRELAND: 3. ISAAC BROWN by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM THE REPLY OF Q. HORATIUS FLACCUS TO A ROMAN 'ROUND-ROBIN' by ALFRED AUSTIN SONNET: LOVE'S HEIGHT by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON ON GRAY'S ELEGY by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB THE BLAZING HEART by ALICE WILLIAMS BROTHERTON A VISION OF VIRGINS by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON A WISH WRITTEN IN JESUS WOOD, FEB. 10TH, 1792 by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE |