Poems (Dorr)/The Painter's Prayer
THE PAINTER'S PRAYER
"NEC ME PRAETERMITTAS, DOMINE!"
(An incident in the painting of Holman Hunt's "Light of the World.")
"Nay," he said, "it is not done!At to-morrow's set of sunCome again, if you would seeWhat the finished thought may be."Straight they went. The heavy doorOn its hinges swung once more,As within the studio dimEye and heart took heed of Him!
How the Presence filled the room,Brightening all its dusky gloom!Saints and martyrs turned their eyesFrom the hills of Paradise;Rapt in holy ecstasy,Mary smiled her Son to see,Letting all her lilies fallAt His feet—the Lord of all!
But the painter bowed his head,Lost in wonder and in dread,And as at a holy shrineKnelt before the form divine. All had passed—the pride, the power,Of the soul's creative hour—Exaltation's soaring flightTo the spirit's loftiest height.
Had he dared to paint the Lord?Dared to paint the Christ, the Word?Ah, the folly! Ah, the sin!Ah, the shame his soul within!Saints might turn on him their eyesFrom the hills of Paradise,But the painter could not brookOn that pictured face to look.
Yet the form was grand and fair,Fit to move a world to prayer;God-like in its strength and stress,Human in its tenderness.From it streamed the Light divine,O'er it drooped the heavenly vine,And beneath the bending sprayStood the Life, the Truth, the Way!
Suddenly with eager hold,Back he swept the curtain's fold,Letting all the sunset glowO'er the living canvas flow.Surely then the wondrous eyesMet his own in tenderest wise,And the Lord Christ, half revealed,Smiled upon him as he kneeled!
Trembling, throbbing, quick as thought,Up he brush and palette caught,And where deepest shade was thrown Set one sign for God alone!Years have passed—but, even yet,Where the massive frame is setYou may find these words: "Nec mePraetermittas, Domine!"
"Neither pass me by, O Lord!"Christ, the Life, the Light, the Word,Low we bow before thy feet,Thy remembrance to entreat!In our soul's most secret place,For no eye, but thine to trace,Lo! this prayer we write: "Nec mePraetermittas, Domine!"