In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems

<SPAN name="cloister"></SPAN> <h3> Through a Long Cloister<br/> </h3> <p class="poem"> Through a long cloister where the gloom of night<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Lingers in sombre silence all the day,</SPAN><br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Across worn pavements crumbling to decay</SPAN><br/> We wandered, blindly groping for the light.<br/> A door swung wide, and splendour infinite<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Streamed through the painted glass, and drove away</SPAN><br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The lingering gloom from choir, nave and bay,</SPAN><br/> And a great minster's glory met our sight.<br/></p> <p class="poem"> Blindly along life's cloister do we grope,<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">We seek a gate that leads to life immortal,</SPAN><br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">We see it loom before us dim and vast,</SPAN><br/> And doubt's dark shadows veil the light of hope:<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">When lo, Death's hand flings wide the sombre portal,</SPAN><br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">And light unfading meets our gaze at last.</SPAN><br/></p> <br/><br/><br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />