CVI + 

Progress of Unbelief + 

Now is the Autumn of the Tree of Life; + 

Its leaves are shed upon the unthankful earth, + 

Which lets them whirl, a prey to the winds’ strife, + 

Heartless to store them for the months of dearth. + 

Men close the door, and dress the cheerful hearth, + 

Self-trusting still; and in his comely gear + 

Of precept and of rite, a household Baal rear. + 

But I will out amid the sleet, and view + 

Each shrivelling stalk and silent-falling leaf. + 

Truth after truth, of choicest scent and hue, + 

Fades, and in fading stirs the Angels’ grief, + 

Unanswer’d here; for she, once pattern chief + 

Of faith, my Country, now gross hearted grown, + 

Waits but to burn the stem before her idol’s throne. + 