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God's Cathedral - 26 Mar 2006

For the past couple of days, I’ve been having fun going through some of our old books of poetry. This poem, “My Cathedral” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, seems to express a similar feeling about nature and church attendance as Emily Dickinson’s “Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church” (also known as “Some Keep Sunday Going to Church” and “A Service of Song”). See:
http://all-creatures.org/poetry/somekeepthe.html
http://all-creatures.org/poetry/somekeep.html 

My Cathedral
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)

Like two cathedral towers these stately pines
Uplift their fretted summits tipped with cones;
The arch beneath them is not built with stones,
Not Art but Nature traced those lovely lines,
And carved this graceful arabesque of vines;
No organ but the wind here sighs and moans,
No sepulchre conceals a martyr’s bones,
No marble bishop on his tomb reclines.
Enter! the pavement, carpeted with leaves,
Gives back a softened echo to thy tread!
Listen! the choir is singing; all the birds,
In leafy galleries beneath the eaves,
Are singing! listen, ere the sound be fled,
And learn there may be worship without words.

For more poems, see:
http://all-creatures.org/poetry.html 
 

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