The Poetry Corner

Epi-strauss-ium

By Arthur Hugh Clough

Matthew and Mark and Luke and holy John Evanished all and gone! Yea, he that erst his dusky curtains quitting, Thro Eastern pictured panes his level beams transmitting, With gorgeous portraits blent, On them his glories intercepted spent. Southwestering now, thro windows plainly glassed, On the inside face his radiance keen hath cast, And in the lustre lost, invisible and gone, Are, say you, Matthew, Mark and Luke and holy John? Lost, is it, lost, to be recovered never? However, The place of worship the meantime with light Is, if less richly, more sincerely bright, And in blue skies the Orb is manifest to sight.