THE TEMPLE

My knees, bent on thy marble pavement, bleed, O Temple built apart in wilderness For an unseen divinity, a goddess Who from her being's deep abyss reveals Only a statue wrought by human hand And even covered with a veil opaque.

Methinks I see among thy sculptured columns, Among thy secret treasures and thine altars, Ion, the Delphic priest, who lays aside The snow-white raiment of the sacrifice And takes up the wayfarer's knotty staff. I am no ministrant, nor have I held The dreadful mystic key, nor have I touched Boldly or timidly the sacred gate That leads to Life's deep-hidden mysteries. One sinner more, O Temple, in the midst Of sinful multitudes, I come to worship.

My knees, bent on thy marble pavement, bleed; I feel the chill of night or of the tomb Creeping upon me slowly, stealthily. But lo, I struggle to shake off the evil That creeps on me so cold; with longing heart, I drag my bleeding knees beyond thy walls, Out of thy columns—forests stifling me— Into the sunlight and the moon's soft glimmer.

Away with prayer's burning frankincense! Away with the gold knife of the sacrifice! Away with choirs loud-voiced and clad in white, Singing their hymns about the flaming altars! Abandoning thee, O Temple, I return To the small hut of the first bloom of time.