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“Milan Cathedral,” by Anne Fremantle, from Poems 1921-1931 (1931)

Altar of Il Duomo in Milan

Milan Cathedral

The church is empty. All the guests are gone.
Infinity remains to crowd the space
Between the fluted columns. The lamps burn
Lonelily, fearing to reveal the face
Portrayed above them. From the cross looks down
He who forever watches in that place.

from Poems 1921-1931, by Anne Fremantle
Chelsea: Swan Press, 1931

Available on the Internet Archive: Link

Anne Fremantle attended Oxford and the London School of Economics, served as an ambulance driver in World War Two, moved to New York City in 1942, and spent much of her working life as an editor. She published The Three-Cornered Hat, a portrait of her mother, in 1970. Her most profound influences, however, came from her conversion to Catholicism in her early twenties, as can be seen in this poem.

This is one in a series of neglected poems taken from the Internet Archive.

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