And then when they
Were nothing fearing, and God’s peace was in the air,
And none was prophesying harm,
The vast disaster fell: 
Where stood the temple when the sun went down
Was vacant desert when it rose again!

Ah yes!  ’Tis ages since it chanced! 
So long ago it was,
That from the memory of the hamlet-folk the Light has passed—­
They scarce believing, now, that once it was,
Or if believing, yet not missing it,
And reconciled to have it gone.

Not so the priests!  Oh, not so
The stricken ones that served it day and night,
Adoring it, abiding in the healing of its peace: 
They stand, yet, where erst they stood
Speechless in that dim morning long ago;
And still they gaze, as then they gazed,
And murmur, ’It will come again;
It knows our pain—­it knows—­it knows—­
Ah surely it will come again.

S.L.C.

Lake Lucerne, August 18, 1897.