Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON VISITING THE CASTLE AND CHURCH OF GRUYERE IN SWITZERLAND, by ROWLAND EYLES EGERTON-WARBURTON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON VISITING THE CASTLE AND CHURCH OF GRUYERE IN SWITZERLAND, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Where gruyere's castle, rearing still on high
Last Line: Alone uncared for, crumbling to decay.
Alternate Author Name(s): Egerton-warburton, R. E.
Subject(s): Castles; Churches; Poverty; Switzerland; Wealth; Cathedrals; Swiss; Riches; Fortunes


WHERE Gruyère's castle, rearing still on high
Its silent halls and its untrodden stair,
Looks down upon a village rude and bare,
The cheerless home of hungering penury,
Paining the heart of him who passeth by;
A costly church, enrich'd with pious care,
Amid those dwellings, echoing praise and prayer,
Tells him that faith can poverty defy.
Sadly I thought on many a lordly pile,
Whose gilded walls unbounded wealth display,
Uprear'd conspicuous in my native isle;
The village church—its altar's mean array,
Its font, its floor, which filth and damp defile,
Alone uncared for, crumbling to decay.





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