Sonnets XCVII: The Church in the Park

Dark is the spot and damp. The great man's hall
Keeps off the pleasant sun. The stones are green;
And here and there a gaping breach is seen,
Or window-arch despoiled, or brick-patched wall.
Within 'tis desolate and cheerless all:
Moist boxes, shoulder-high, where seats have been;
Two rampant beasts on tottering chancel-screen;
A roof that waits but the first snow, to fall.
O sin and shame! not fifty yards away,
Corniced above and carpeted below,
With pictures bright, and plate in gleaming show,
Riseth the temple, whither day by day
A family held Christian doth repair
To glut their appetite with sumptuous fare!