Rosalind Mason. Vision. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Vision

By Rosalind Mason


From “Poems of Happiness” I ENTERED the Cathedral—
Not a Gothic one, with broadly spreading arches,
But with dwarfed limbs, tortured
By economy.
It was draped in feeble mourning,	5
And a purple memorial to a ponderous bishop
Hung before the altar of Christ.

To the right was a candle-lit shrine,
Of raw colors.
Before it knelt a man—	10
Eyes closed, hands raised, lips moving—
A passion of prayer.

Perhaps he had been caught in a crime—
Was smitten with disease—owed money,
And was afraid.	15
Perhaps—perhaps—

But there was the faith—
Filling and surrounding him,
Filling the air, filling the church
With clouds of ecstasy.	20

And he crossed himself,
As if he marked the sign
On his soul—
And on the world.

Then he took his paper	25
And his hat,
And went to catch the trolley.
Oh, my dim eyes!—
How often divinity wears
A derby hat,	30
And carries
A sporting extra!