The Poetry Corner

Composed In Roslin Chapel During A Storm

By William Wordsworth

The wind is now thy organist; a clank (We know not whence) ministers for a bell To mark some change of service. As the swell Of music reached its height, and even when sank The notes, in prelude, Roslin! to a blank Of silence, how it thrilled thy sumptuous roof, Pillars, and arches, not in vain time-proof, Though Christian rites be wanting! From what bank Came those live herbs? by what hand were they sown Where dew falls not, where rain-drops seem unknown? Yet in the Temple they a friendly niche Share with their sculptured fellows, that, green-grown, Copy their beauty more and more, and preach, Though mute, of all things blending into one.