Cecidit, Cecidit Babylon Magna!
The aimless business of your feet,
Your swinging wheels and piston rods,
The smoke of every sullen street
Have passed away with all your Gods.
For in a meadow far from these
A hodman treads across the loam,
Bearing his solid sanctities
To that strange altar called his home.
I watch the tall, sagacious trees
Turn as the monks do, every one;
The saplings, ardent novices,
Turning with them towards the sun,
That Monstrance held in God’s strong hands,
Burnished in amber and in red;
God, His Own priest, in blessing stands;
The earth, adoring, bows her head.
The idols of your market place,
Your high debates, where are they now?
Your lawyers’ clamour fades apace—
A bird is singing on the bough!
Three fragile, sacramental things
Endure, though all your pomps shall pass—
A butterfly’s immortal wings,
A daisy and a blade of grass.