Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ST. SOPHIA, by H. S. GULLIVER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ST. SOPHIA, by                    
First Line: Was ever a soul of such wonderous style
Last Line: To the vast beyond where is god on high.
Subject(s): Churches; Cathedrals


Was ever a soul of such wonderous style
Hid within walls so drab and gray?
From without, nought but a soulless pile
From within, a grace to steal the soul away.

And there under shafts of golden light
From the glory that is St. Sophia's dome
We paused in awe of its wonders bright
As if all beauty had here found home.

From the mosque swept o'er us the magic spell
Of its light and shade and its centuries,
Of the countless hosts, who near did dwell,
And now have vanished as a breeze.

The call to prayer and the faithful bowed
To a prophet strange, but who will say
When you utter a reverent prayer aloud
To any God, it can go astray?

And deep to Mecca and the east
They prostrate fell, with shoes laid by,
Till the echoing sound had slowly ceased
'Mid vault and dome and column high.

The crooning doves, one softly hears,
With their mating song 'neath the lofty dome,
As doves have mated for a thousand years
And will mate for the thousand years to come.

From alabaster founts there flowed
Water to cleanse the tired feet,
And we thought of the Christ, who himself had bowed
As a servant to do this duty meet.

And our spirits were cleansed from earthly things
And lifted to heights for which we try,
And we soared as if on angelic wings
To the vast beyond where is God on high.





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