Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity



The morning mist is cleared away,
  Yet still the face of Heaven is grey,
Nor yet this autumnal breeze has stirred the grove,
  Faded yet full, a paler green
  Skirts soberly the tranquil scene,
The red-breast warbles round this leafy cove.

  Sweet messenger of "calm decay,"
  Saluting sorrow as you may,
As one still bent to find or make the best,
  In thee, and in this quiet mead,
  The lesson of sweet peace I read,
Rather in all to be resigned than blest.

  'Tis a low chant, according well
  With the soft solitary knell,
As homeward from some grave beloved we turn,
  Or by some holy death-bed dear,
  Most welcome to the chastened ear
Of her whom Heaven is teaching how to mourn.

  O cheerful tender strain! the heart
  That duly bears with you its part,
Singing so thankful to the dreary blast,
  Though gone and spent its joyous prime,
  And on the world's autumnal time,
'Mid withered hues and sere, its lot be cast:

  That is the heart for thoughtful seer,
  Watching, in trance nor dark nor clear,
Th' appalling Future as it nearer draws:
  His spirit calmed the storm to meet,
  Feeling the rock beneath his feet,
And tracing through the cloud th' eternal Cause.

  That is the heart for watchman true
  Waiting to see what GOD will do,
As o'er the Church the gathering twilight falls
  No more he strains his wistful eye,
  If chance the golden hours be nigh,
By youthful Hope seen beaming round her walls.

  Forced from his shadowy paradise,
  His thoughts to Heaven the steadier rise:
There seek his answer when the world reproves:
  Contented in his darkling round,
  If only he be faithful found,
When from the east the eternal morning moves.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:28 min read
118

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCCB AADEED FFXGGX HHIJJI XGKLLK MMNOON XXKPPX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,628
Words 293
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6

John Keble

John Keble was an English churchman and poet, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. Keble College, Oxford was named after him. more…

All John Keble poems | John Keble Books

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