Classic Poem

Past imaged pillars, wrought of fir and palm,
Past bright pomegranates, swinging on their chain,
And bars of Tyrian cedar, overlain
With gold, and past the molten sea whose calm
Waves drink the offerings of spice and balm,
Lit by the seven sacred lamps whose rain
Of fragrant fire the almond bowls detain,
Past clear-eyed cherubim, without alarm,
And into shadow of the mercy-seat
We pressed.
No priest with onyx-stones to meet
Us there! Alone our hunger, face to face
With God, ate of the showbread, sacred, sweet;
And listening, heard these words of heavenly grace, —
" One greater than the temple fills this place. "