Poems of Nature, Poems Subjective and Reminiscent and Religious Poems, Complete

THE "STORY OF IDA."

Francesca Alexander, whose pen and pencil have so reverently transcribed the simple faith and life of the Italian peasantry, wrote the narrative published with John Ruskin's introduction under the title, The Story of Ida.

     Weary of jangling noises never stilled,
     The skeptic's sneer, the bigot's hate, the din
     Of clashing texts, the webs of creed men spin
     Round simple truth, the children grown who build
     With gilded cards their new Jerusalem,
     Busy, with sacerdotal tailorings
     And tinsel gauds, bedizening holy things,
     I turn, with glad and grateful heart, from them
     To the sweet story of the Florentine
     Immortal in her blameless maidenhood,
     Beautiful as God's angels and as good;
     Feeling that life, even now, may be divine
     With love no wrong can ever change to hate,
     No sin make less than all-compassionate!

     1884.