Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 3: 35. OLD ABBEYS, by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 3: 35. OLD ABBEYS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Monastic domes! Following my down-ward way
Last Line: Your spirit freely let me drink, and live!
Subject(s): Monasteries; Abbeys


MONASTIC Domes! following my downward way,
Untouched by due regret I marked your fall!
Now, ruin, beauty, ancient stillness, all
Dispose to judgments temperate as we lay
On our past selves in life's declining day:
For as, by discipline of Time made wise,
We learn to tolerate the infirmities
And faults of others -- gently as he may,
So with our own the mild Instructor deals,
Teaching us to forget them or forgive.
Perversely curious, then, for hidden ill
Why should we break Time's charitable seals?
Once ye were holy, ye are holy still;
Your spirit freely let me drink, and live!






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