Explore "The Old Calvary" by Frederic Manning on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
TO THE REV. D. L. PROSSER
It is propped in a corner of the yard, / Where vines wreathe it / With leaves and delicate tendrils; / A mutilated trunk, / Worn, and gray with weather stains; / Lichens cling to its flesh as a leprosy.
But for a moment I stood in adoration, / Reverent, as the sun-rays / Struck between the glistening leaves; / Lighting the frail, lean form, / The shrunken flanks, / That knew more suffering than held / The agonies of Laocoon.
For the memory of many prayers clung to it, / Tenderly, and glistening, / Even as the delicate vine / To the sacred flesh.