God in a Heart

Once, where the unentered Temple stood, at noon
No sun-ray pierced the dim unwindowed aisle;
And all the flooding whiteness of the moon
Could only bathe the outer peristyle.

And as we passed we praised the Temple front;
But one went in; with careless feet he trod
The long-forgotten pavement moss'd and blunt
And found the altar of the unprayed-to God.

He reached and lit the tapers of the shrine
And let their radiance flood the vault obscure;
But ah! upon what evil things to shine,
Blind, crawling, chill, discoloured, and impure.

Burn on, O Light, burn clearer in the gloom,
And show the foulness of the illumin'd room.