The Vision of the Faithful

UPON the faithful in the common things
Enjoined of duty, rarest blessings wait.
A pious nun (an ancient volume brings
The legend and the lesson), while she sate
Reading some scriptures of the Sacred Word,
And marvelling much at Christ’s exceeding grace,
Since, in her room, a Vision of the Lord
With sudden splendor filling all the place;
Whereat, she knelt, enraptured! — when a bell
Signalled her hour to feed the convent’s poor ;
Which humble duty done, she sought her cell,
And lo ! the Vision, brighter than before,
Who, smiling, spake, “Even so is Heaven obtained;
I — hadst thou lingered here — had not remained!”