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Home  »  The Book of New York Verse  »  John Myers O’Hara

Hamilton Fish Armstrong, ed. The Book of New York Verse. 1917.

The Little Church Around the Corner

John Myers O’Hara

IN meek seclusion where cathedrals vie,

It shuns the shining dome and spires of pride;

Content to nestle undiscerned beside

The street where wealth and fashion pass it by;

A refuge for the spirit’s inmost sigh,

With prayer’s consoling hush to none denied;

It keeps the faith for hearts that still confide,

Renunciation that no pomps belie.

And many pass its portal shrine nor stay

The hurried step, impatient of its peace;

But when the pageant vanishes with day

And all the lures of gain and glory cease,

One enters, sad as Dante, long ago,

The convent gate of Fra Hilario.