[Editor: This poem by William Blocksidge (also known as William Baylebridge) was published in Songs o’ the South (1908).]
XVIII.
To ————
Thou temple pure of love and holy joy,
Sweet fane, here all my homage now I bring —
The which I pledge a spotless offering —
And at thine altar all my prayers employ!
The sacred flames that temper (not destroy)
Thou grantest, till my gift, on incensed wing,
Doth rise to whence it primally did spring,
And thence doth ev’n its kindred hope convoy.
Thou art God’s temple, Love, that, pure and fair,
Doth show the workings of the Will divine —
How melts my heart to read the touching prayer
So sweetly writ within those eyes of thine! —
Dear God! what loveliness past all compare
Is this! And thou art good to make it mine!
Source:
William Blocksidge, Songs o’ the South, London: Watts, 1908, p. 33
Editor’s notes:
art = (archaic) are
doth = (archaic) does
ev’n = (vernacular) even
fane = a church or temple
grantest = (archaic) grant
primally = in a primal fashion or manner
thine = (archaic) your; yours
thou = (archaic) you
writ = (archaic) written; writing; write; can also refer to a court order which directs someone to carry out an act, or to refrain from carrying out an act; may also refer to something written, or to a document considered to be the most authoritative in its field, e.g. Holy Writ (the Bible, or a passage from the Bible)
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