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| A SIMPLE unpartitioned room,— | |
| Surmounted by an ample dome, | |
| Or, in some lands that favored lie, | |
| With centre open to the sky, | |
| But roofed with archéd cloisters round, | 5 |
| That mark the consecrated bound, | |
| And shade the niche to Mekkeh turned, | |
| By which two massive lights are burned; | |
| With pulpit whence the sacred word | |
| Expounded on great days is heard; | 10 |
| With fountain fresh, where, ere they pray, | |
| Men wash the soil of earth away; | |
| With shining minaret, thin and high, | |
| From whose fine-trellised balcony | |
| Announcement of the hours of prayer | 15 |
| Is uttered to the silent air; | |
| Such is the Mosque,—the holy place, | |
| Where faithful men of every race, | |
| Meet at their ease, and face to face. | |
| |
| Not that the power of God is here | 20 |
| More manifest, or more to fear; | |
| Not that the glory of his face | |
| Is circumscribed by any space; | |
| But that, as men are wont to meet | |
| In court or chamber, mart or street, | 25 |
| For purposes of gain or pleasure, | |
| For friendliness or social leisure,— | |
| So, for the greatest of all ends | |
| To which intelligence extends, | |
| The worship of the Lord, whose will | 30 |
| Created and sustains us still, | |
| And honor of the Prophet’s name, | |
| By whom the saving message came, | |
| Believers meet together here, | |
| And hold these precincts very dear. | 35 |
| |
| The floor is spread with matting neat, | |
| Unstained by touch of shodden feet,— | |
| A decent and delightful seat! | |
| Where, after due devotions paid, | |
| And legal ordinance obeyed, | 40 |
| Men may in happy parlance join, | |
| And gay with serious thought combine; | |
| May ask the news from lands away, | |
| May fix the business of to-day; | |
| Or, with “God willing,” at the close, | 45 |
| To-morrow’s hopes and deeds dispose. | |
| |
| Children are running in and out | |
| With silver-sounding laugh and shout, | |
| No more disturbed in their sweet play, | |
| No more disturbing those that pray, | 50 |
| Than the poor birds, that fluttering fly | |
| Among the rafters there on high, | |
| Or seek at times, with grateful hop, | |
| The corn fresh-sprinkled on the top. | |
| |
| So, lest the stranger’s scornful eye | 55 |
| Should hurt this sacred family,— | |
| Lest inconsiderate words should wound | |
| Devout adorers with their sound,— | |
| Lest careless feet should stain the floor | |
| With dirt and dust from out the door,— | 60 |
| ’T is well that custom should protect | |
| The place with prudence circumspect, | |
| And let no unbeliever pass | |
| The threshold of the faithful mass; | |
| That as each Muslim his Hareem | 65 |
| Guards even from a jealous dream, | |
| So should no alien feeling scathe | |
| This common home of public faith, | |
| So should its very name dispel | |
| The presence of the infidel. | 70 |
| |
| Yet, though such reverence may demand | |
| A building raised by human hand, | |
| Most honor to the men of prayer, | |
| Whose mosque is in them everywhere! | |
| Who, amid revel’s wildest din, | 75 |
| In war’s severest discipline, | |
| On rolling deck, in thronged bazaar, | |
| In stranger lands, however far, | |
| However different in their reach | |
| Of thought, in manners, dress, or speech,— | 80 |
| Will quietly their carpet spread, | |
| To Mekkeh turn the humble head, | |
| And, as if blind to all around, | |
| And deaf to each distracting sound, | |
| In ritual language God adore, | 85 |
| In spirit to his presence soar, | |
| And, in the pauses of the prayer, | |
| Rest, as if rapt in glory there! | |
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