And the cold gray dreams of doubt,--

And whether Just or Justified
Was the Church's mystic Head,--
And whether the Bread was changed to God,
Or God became the Bread

But of human hearts outside their walls
They never paused to dream,
And they never thought of the love of God
That smiled in the twilight gleam.

II.

As these three monks went bickering on
By the foot of a spreading tree,
Out from its heart of verdurous gloom
A song burst wild and free,--

A wordless carol of life and love,
Of nature free and wild;
And the three monks paused in the evening shade
Looked up at each other and smiled.

And tender and gay the bird sang on,
And cooed and whistled and trilled,
And the wasteful wealth of life and love
From his happy heart was spilled.

The song had power on the grim old monks