Upon a Flemish road, when noon was deep, <br />I passed a little consecrated shrine, <br />Where, among simple pictures ranged in line, <br />The blessed Mary holds her child asleep. <br />To kneel here, shepherd-maidens leave their sheep <br />When they feel grave because of the sunshine, <br />And again kneel here in the day's decline; <br />And here, when their life ails them, come to weep. <br />Night being full, I passed on the same road <br />By the same shrine; within, a lamp was lit <br />Which through the silence of clear darkness glowed. <br />Thus, when life's heat is past and doubts arise <br />Darkling, the lamp of Faith must strengthen it, <br />Which sometimes will not light and sometimes dies.<br /><br />Dante Gabriel Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/returning-to-brussels/
