Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LINES PREFIXED TO ST JOHN OF DAMASCUS, by DOUGLAS AINSLIE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LINES PREFIXED TO ST JOHN OF DAMASCUS, by             Poem Explanation        
First Line: Worshipper of the sun and moon


( To the Memory of my dear Uncle, the Right Hon. Sir M. E. Grant Duff, G.C.S.I. , G.C.I.E. , whose
favourite poem of mine this was.) "


"Worshipper of the Sun and Moon
And the Evening Star this people was ,
Before we brought the priceless boon
And held before its eyes the Cross ."


Thus speak the priests of every creed,
The Old Gods perish as is due,
And the New triumph, till indeed
These new are old and men make new.
But always as the old creed wanes,
Its votaries will linger yet,
And though Lord Christ in heaven reigns,
Queen Venus they will not forget.
See them steal forth at still of even,
Alert while all the world is sleeping,
See the stained altar , see them weave
Her mystic wreaths while she is peeping
Through the pale cloud .
Just so some day


The tale of Christ a tale of Fairy
To the new men will seem when they
With Venus shall have placed our Mary
Among the myths of old: they smile
Handling the crown of thorns: for them
Christ and his legend will beguile
An idle hour; the Cherubim ,
The glistening glories of the sainted,
Are but old fancies growing dim,
As fade the marvels Vinci painted.
Thus of the world in man's first youth;
He wanders on until arrested
He stands before the temple Truth ,
Built on the hill -top olive -crested;
He kneels, and glowing there between
The white, slight columns of her shrine
Perfect, implacable, serene,
Dawns upon him the queen divine.
Then says the world: "An empty shell
For the true goddess you have taken;
Long ages past the old faith fell
And the marble temple was forsaken;
You are a man now and, behold ,
These things are truly worth your scheming:
Pleasure and power, and art and gold ,
And women fairer than your dreaming."
And as the Pagan spurned the Priest,
So manhood spurns his boyhood's God,
Vowing he cares nor knows the least
Where winds the hilly path he trod .


But when the field of youth is mown
And earlier his evening closes,
See him steal trembling forth alone
To deck the scornèd shrine with roses;


And weeping in the holy place,
Hear him recant his blasphemies:
Iron-grey his hair and in his face
Engraven the world's miseries.


O Goddess grant him kneeling there,
Pilgrim and penitent of youth,
Vision immortal to appear,
Art and religion, love and truth.






Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


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