Poems (Linn)/The Illumined Page
THE ILLUMINED PAGE.
FOND lover, pore above her upturned face
As you would gaze on some illumined page;
Some text revealing faith of a past age,
Where on the margin, by an artist's grace,
Gleam cherubs' faces, scrolls of blue and gold
Twined with fair flowers that shall never fade;
Illumined prayers that holy beings prayed,
In mouldering monasteries, centuries old.
But while you praise the beauty of such art
Fail not to see the faith that lay behind;
Think of the spirits that thus sought to bind
God's grace and glory closer to the heart.
So lover, reading love's illumined story,
Behind it, own the "All-Love" whence comes love's glory.
As you would gaze on some illumined page;
Some text revealing faith of a past age,
Where on the margin, by an artist's grace,
Gleam cherubs' faces, scrolls of blue and gold
Twined with fair flowers that shall never fade;
Illumined prayers that holy beings prayed,
In mouldering monasteries, centuries old.
But while you praise the beauty of such art
Fail not to see the faith that lay behind;
Think of the spirits that thus sought to bind
God's grace and glory closer to the heart.
So lover, reading love's illumined story,
Behind it, own the "All-Love" whence comes love's glory.