ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS
XXXIII. REVIVAL OF POPERY
ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS
THE saintly Youth has ceased to rule, discrowned By unrelenting Death. O People keen For change, to whom the new looks always green! Rejoicing did they cast upon the ground Their Gods of wood and stone; and, at the sound Of counter-proclamation, now are seen, (Proud triumph is it for a sullen Queen!) Lifting them up, the worship to confound Of the Most High. Again do they invoke The Creature, to the Creature glory give; 10 Again with frankincense the altars smoke Like those the Heathen served; and mass is sung; And prayer, man’s rational prerogative, Runs through blind channels of an unknown tongue.