Soft and holy Vesper Hour— <br />Precursor of the night— <br />How I love thy soothing power, <br />The hush, the fading light; <br />Raising those vain thoughts of ours <br />To higher, holier things— <br />Mingling gleams from Eden’s bowers <br />With earth’s imaginings! <br /> <br />How thrilling in some grand old fane <br />To hear the Vesper prayer <br />Rise, with the organ’s solemn strain, <br />On incense-laden air; <br />While the last dying smiles of day <br />Athwart the stained glass pour— <br />Flooding with red and golden ray <br />The shrine and chancel floor. <br /> <br />Who, at such moment, has not felt <br />Those yearnings, vague, yet sweet, <br />For Heaven’s joys at last to melt, <br />Into fruition meet; <br />And wished, as with rapt soul he viewed <br />That glorious Home above, <br />That earth’s vain thoughts would ne’er intrude <br />On visions of God’s love? <br /> <br />To this calm hour belongs a sway <br />The bright day cannot wield— <br />Sweet as the evening star’s first ray, <br />Transforming wood and field; <br />Soft’ing gay flowers else too bright <br />And silvering hill and dell; <br />And clothing earth in that mild light <br />The sad heart loves so well.<br /><br />Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-vesper-hour/
