| Hunt and Lee, comps. The Book of the Sonnet. 1867. | | | | II. A Soldier-Priest | | By Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) |
| | To J. M. K.
MY hope and heart is with thee,—thou wilt be | |
| A latter Luther and a soldier-priest | |
| To scare church-harpies from the Master’s feast; | |
| Our dusted velvets have much need of thee: | |
| Thou art no sabbath-drawler of old saws | 5 |
| Distilled from some worm-cankered homily; | |
| But spurred at heart with fieriest energy | |
| To embattail and to wall about thy cause | |
| With iron-worded proof, hating to hark | |
| The humming of the drowsy pulpit-drone | 10 |
| Half God’s good sabbath, while the worn-out clerk | |
| Browbeats his desk below. Thou, from a throne | |
| Mounted in heaven, wilt shoot into the dark | |
| Arrows of lightnings. I will stand and mark. | | | | |
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