Abandon rites that never may atone For venial sins against this holy ghost: No ritual performed at any cost, Nothing you do or may not do, no moan, Has power to move a spirit trapped in stone. Wait through long days, long nights, till a hoar frost Sparkles upon your heart, till you have lost Knowledge of time, have left tiredness alone. When the last tether on a phantom hope Has spun itself to final nothingness, And pain, through constancy, has lost its scope, Open your eyes... lift up your heart; assess In quiet the shy miracle of stone Become bright mystery of flesh and bone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOCKED OUT; AS TOLD TO A CHILD by ROBERT FROST THE SACRAL DREAMS OF RAMON FERNANDEZ by JAMES GALVIN TO W.E.B. DUBOIS - SCHOLAR by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON PRAYER AT SUNRISE by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE CORNUCOPIA OF RED AND GREEN COMFITS by AMY LOWELL |