Abbie Farwell Brown

Windows

The windows of the place wherein I dwell
    I will make beautiful. No garish light
    Shall enter crudely; but with colors bright
And warm and throbbing I will weave a spell,
In rainbow harmony the theme to tell
    Of sage and simple saint and noble knight,
    Beggar and king who fought the gallant fight.
These will transfigure even my poor cell.

But when the shadows of the night begin,
    And sifted sunlight falls no more on me,
May I have learned to light my lamp within;
    So that the passing world may look and see
Still the same radiance, though with paler hue,
Of the sweet lives that help men to live true.