Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE CARMELITE NUN, by CONSTANCE CAROLINE WOODHILL NADEN


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CARMELITE NUN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Silence is mine, and everlasting peace
Last Line: "and yet I cry, ""how long, o lord, how long?"
Subject(s): Nuns


SILENCE is mine, and everlasting peace;
My heart is empty, waiting for its Lord;
All hope, all passion, all desire shall cease,
And loss of self shall be my last reward.

For I would lose my life, my thought, my will;
The love and hate, the grief and joy of earth:
I watch and pray, and am for ever still;
So shall I find the death, which yet is birth.

Yet once I loved to hear the wild birds sing,
I knew the hedge-row blossoms all by name;
Keen sight was mine, to trace the budding spring,
Clear voice, for songs of joy when summer came.

Too dear I held each earthly sight and sound,
Too well I loved each fair created thing,
And when I prayed to Him I had not found,
I called Him in my heart "the mountains' King."

All, all is past -- gone, every vain delight;
No beauty tempts me in this lonely cell:
Yet why, O Lord, were earth and sky so bright,
Winning the soul that in Thyself should dwell?

Often my heart recalls the sacred time
When fell the tresses of my nut-brown hair;
But then will come -- O God, forgive the crime! --
That guilty question -- Can I still be fair?

I cannot quite forget that I am young;
I sometimes long to see my mother's face:
Oh, when I left her, how she wept, and clung
About my neck in agonized embrace!

And there was one -- Ah, no, the thought is sin --
Why come these thronging forms of earthly grace?
Close, close, my heart! Thou shalt not let them in,
To break the stillness of this holy place.

Oh, Mary, Mother, help me to endure!
I am a woman, with a heart like thine:
But no -- thy nature is too high and pure,
Thou canst not feel these low-born pangs of mine.

Oh, for the vision of the Master's face!
Oh, for the music of the heavenly throng!
I have but lived on earth a little space,
And yet I cry, "How long, O Lord, how long?"







Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net