Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ENGRAVEN ON A COLUMN, by MATTHEW PRIOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ENGRAVEN ON A COLUMN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: View not this spire by measure given
Last Line: While deathless charity remains.
Subject(s): Churches; Death; Faith; Heaven; Hope; Cathedrals; Dead, The; Belief; Creed; Paradise; Optimism


VIEW not this spire by measure given
To buildings raised by common hands:
That fabric rises high as Heaven,
Whose basis on devotion stands.

While yet we draw this vital breath,
We can our faith and hope declare;
But Charity beyond our death
Will ever in our works appear.

Best be he called among good men,
Who to his God this column raised:
Though lightning strike the dome again,
The man who built it shall be praised.

Yet spires and towers in dust shall lie,
The efforts weak of human pains;
And faith and hope themselves shall die;
While deathless charity remains.





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