Songs and Sonnets (Coleman)/Sanctuary
For works with similar titles, see Sanctuary.
SANCTUARY.
Within the shelter of thy calm, O Night,
I loose the garish vestures of the day,
With trembling hand unbind and fling away
The cap and bells that made the crowd's delight;
Screened from the world's uncomprehending sight,
Deep in thy healing silences I lay
The bruised and fettered soul that doth but pray
To be encompassed by the Infinite.
Receive my tears, O Night, and with thy space,
Thy unimpassioned vastness, cover me;
Make me to find my natural, lowly place—
Become once more a child, and learn the mood
Of larger things, until obedient, free,
I lose myself within thy magnitude.