In a Belgian Garden and Other Poems

<SPAN name="rheims"></SPAN> <h3> Rheims<br/> </h3> <p class="poem"> In royal splendour rose the house of prayer,<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Its mystic gloom arched over by the flight</SPAN><br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Of soaring vault; above the nave's dim night</SPAN><br/> Rich gleamed the painted windows wondrous fair.<br/> Sweet chimes and chanting mingled in the air;<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Blue clouds of incense dimmed the vaulted height;</SPAN><br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And on the altar, like a beacon light,</SPAN><br/> The gold cross glittered in the candles' glare.<br/></p> <p class="poem"> To-day no bells, no choirs, no incense cloud,<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">For thou, O Rheims, art prey of evil powers;</SPAN><br/> But with a voice a thousand times more loud<br/> <SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Than siege-guns echoing round thy shattered towers,</SPAN><br/> Do thy mute bells to all the world proclaim<br/> Thy martyred glory and thy foeman's shame.<br/></p> <br/><br/><br/> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />