Alice Meynell

Veneration of Images

Thou man, first-comer, whose wide arms entreat,
    Gather, clasp, welcome, bind,
Lack, or remember; whose warm pulses beat
    With love of thine own kind:—

Unlifted for a blessing on yon sea,
    Unshrined on this highway,
O flesh, O grief, thou too shalt have our knee,
    Thou rood of every day!