4. The Marriage
The still cathedral, high and dark and wide,
The gloom that hid us kneeling side by side,—
Yea, where the candles at the chancel flared
I took of love a sweetheart and a bride.
(Chanted the priests: Orate, Domine!)
The sudden silence drinking up the din,
The hush that gripped us as the doors swung in
Leaving us soul to soul with solitude,—
The while the city wallowed in my sin.
(The dreamy chanting ... Jesu ... Domine.)
The long slow Latin periods were hung
Too lovingly upon the abbe’s tongue,
I made a prodding handle of my sword,—
And all the while the dark-robed brothers sung:
(Ora pro nobis ... Jesu ... Domine.)
I snatched the grey hood from his frowning brows,
Word for his word I vowed the immortal vows,
And kneeling knew an unknown sacrament
In the loud silence of her Father’s House.
(And for my soul the chanting ... Domine!)