The Cathedral of Cologne

THE Dome, the Dome of Cologne!
Antique, unique, sublime —
Rare monument from the elder time,
Begun so long agone,

Yet never finished, though wrought at oft-
Yonder it soars alone,
Alone, aloft,

Blending the weird, and stern, and soft,
The Cathedral-dome of Cologne!
The Dome, the Dome of Cologne!

"Whence came its Meister's plan?
Before or since to the eye of man
"Was never aught like it shown I

Alas! the matchless Meister died!
Alas! he died! — and none
Thereafter tried

To fathom the mystery typified
By the marvellous Dome of Cologne!
The Dome, the Dome of Cologne!

In the troublesome times of old
The soldier alone won fame and gold —
The artist passed for a drone!

War's hurricanes rocked and wasted earth;
Men battled for shrine or throne;
None sat by his hearth

To ponder the means of a second birth
For the holy Dome of Cologne!
The Dome, the Dome of Cologne!

To God be immortal praise
That now at length, in our own bright days,
THE MEISTER'S PLAN is KNOWN!

Research hath brought the relic to light
From its mausoleum of stone —
We hail with delight

A treasure so long concealed from sight,
THE ORIGINAL DOME OF COLOGNE!
The Dome, the Dome of Cologne!

Its hour of glory is nigh!
Build ye it high as the sapphire skyl
As moonlight never hath shone

On Temple of such a magnificent
Ideal from zone to zone,
So, aid its ascent

To the sapphire blue of the firmament,
The Cathedral-dome of Cologne!