ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS
XXVIII. REFLECTIONS
ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS
GRANT, that by this unsparing hurricane Green leaves with yellow mixed are torn away, And goodly fruitage with the mother spray; ‘Twere madness–wished we, therefore, to detain, With hands stretched forth in mollified disdain, The “trumpery” that ascends in bare display– Bulls, pardons, relics, cowls black, white, and grey– Upwhirled, and flying o’er the ethereal plain Fast bound for Limbo Lake. And yet not choice But habit rules the unreflecting herd, 10 And airy bonds are hardest to disown; Hence, with the spiritual sovereignty transferred Unto itself, the Crown assumes a voice Of reckless mastery, hitherto unknown.