Calm, sad, secure; behind high convent walls, <br /> These watch the sacred lamp, these watch and pray: <br />And it is one with them when evening falls, <br /> And one with them the cold return of day. <br /> <br />These heed not time; their nights and days they make <br /> Into a long returning rosary, <br />Whereon their lives are threaded for Christ's sake; <br /> Meekness and vigilance and chastity. <br /> <br />A vowed patrol, in silent companies, <br /> Life-long they keep before the living Christ. <br />In the dim church, their prayers and penances <br /> Are fragrant incense to the Sacrificed. <br /> <br />Outside, the world is wild and passionate; <br /> Man's weary laughter and his sick despair <br />Entreat at their impenetrable gate: <br /> They heed no voices in their dream of prayer. <br /> <br />They saw the glory of the world displayed; <br /> They saw the bitter of it, and the sweet; <br />They knew the roses of the world should fade, <br /> And be trod under by the hurrying feet. <br /> <br />Therefore they rather put away desire, <br /> And crossed their hands and came to sanctuary <br />And veiled their heads and put on coarse attire: <br /> Because their comeliness was vanity. <br /> <br />And there they rest; they have serene insight <br /> Of the illuminating dawn to be: <br />Mary's sweet Star dispels for them the night, <br /> The proper darkness of humanity. <br /> <br />Calm, sad, secure; with faces worn and mild: <br /> Surely their choice of vigil is the best? <br />Yea! for our roses fade, the world is wild; <br /> But there, beside the altar, there is rest.<br /><br />Ernest Christopher Dowson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/nuns-of-the-perpetual-adoration/
