church

What is thy name?

ROBERT B UCHANAN .

Who

Gave thee that name?

Those from whose seed I grew,
He from whose loins I sprang, she in whose warm
Womb I grew shapen into flesh and form, —
Whereby I first did crawl, then walked upright
A child, inheritor of Life and Light.

What did thy Father and Mother then for thee?

Three things they swore: firstly, to shelter me
From all things evil, teaching me to find,
Through love for them, due love for all Mankind;

Shades of the clouds and the peaks! voices of rivers and fountains!
Glimpses of purple crags and torrents that murmur and leap!
Sounds and sights surrounding the Shepherd who stands on the mountains
Lonely 'mong vapours of Dawn, dim like a vision in sleep.
Dim he looms, and gigantic! Feels the chill breath of the Morning
Creep thro' the whitening mists, blowing them silently past,
Watches them come and depart, till out of the East with no warning
Flashes a roseate beam, and smites them asunder at last!