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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
A SPIRITUAL AND WELL-ORDERED MIND, by HENRY ALFORD Poet's Biography
First Line: As on the front / of some cathedral pile
Last Line: Through every broad receptacle of sense.
Subject(s): Worship; Christianity
First Line: As on the front / of some cathedral pile
Last Line: Through every broad receptacle of sense.
Subject(s): Worship; Christianity
As on the front
Of some cathedral pile, ranged orderly,
Rich tabernacles throng of sainted men,
Each in his highday robes magnificent,
Some tipp'd with crowns, the church's nursing sires,
And some, the hallow'd temple's serving-men,
With crosiers deep emboss'd, and comely staves
Resting aslant upon their reverend form,
Guarding the entrance well; while round the walls,
And in the corbels of the massy nave,
All circumstances of living child and man
And heavenly influence, in parables
Of daily passing forms is pictured forth:
So all the beautiful and seemly things
That crowd the earth, within the humble soul
Have place and order due; because there dwells
In the inner temple of the holy heart
The presence of the spirit form above:
There are his tabernacles; there his rites
Want not their due performance, nor sweet strains
Of heavenly music, nor a daily throng
Of worshippers, both those who minister
In service fix'd -- the mighty principles
And leading governors of thought; and those
Who come and go, the troop of fleeting joys --
All hopes, all sorrows, all that enter in
Through every broad receptacle of sense.
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