Before This New Lord Came

Before this new Lord came into my house
It was a quiet place, — within its halls
Were gracious pictures that made glad the walls
With hints of Southern slopes and olive boughs,
Or saints that wore bright halos on their brows;
But now that here the new Lord's footstep falls,
Now that his voice the ancient peace appals
Where once from dreams soft music did arouse:

Lo! all is changed. Gone the fair, pictured things,
And in their stead are many a grinning face,
And loathly shapes, and hurry of strange wings.
Shrieks rend the air, and blood-stained are the ways:
Yet — heard by me alone — a spirit sings.
This Lord shall not forever hold the place.