In Marble Prayer

So still, so still they lieAs centuries pass by,Their pale hands folded in imploring prayer;They never lift their eyesIn sudden, sweet surprise;The wandering winds stir not their heavy hair;Forth from their close-sealed lipsNor moan, nor laughter, slips,Nor lightest sigh to wake the entrancèd air!

Yet evermore they pray!We creatures of a dayLive, love, and vanish from the gaze of men;Nations arise and fall;Oblivion's heavy pallHides kings and princes from all human ken,While these in marble state,From age to age awaitThe rolling thunder of the last amen!

Not in dim crypts alone,Or aisles of fretted stone,Where high cathedral altars gleam afar;And the red light streams downOn mitre and on crown,Till each proud jewel blazes like a star;But where the tall grass wavesO'er long-forgotten graves,Their silent worship no rude sounds can mar!

Dost Thou not hear and heed?O, in Earth's utmost needWilt Thou not hearken, Thou who didst create?Not for themselves they prayWhose woes have passed for aye;For us, for us, before Thy throne they wait!Thou Sovereign Lord of All,On whom they mutely call,Hear Thou and answer from thine high estate!