![Ecclesiastical Sonnets - Part III. - XXXIX - Church To Be Erected, By: William Wordsworth](https://i0.wp.com/poetrycatalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Ecclesiastical-Sonnets-Part-III-XXXIX-Church-To-Be-Erected-By-William-Wordsworth.png?resize=750%2C420&ssl=1)
Be this the chosen site; the virgin sod,
Moistened from age to age by dewy eve,
Shall disappear, and grateful earth receive
The corner-stone from hands that build to God.
Yon reverend hawthorns, hardened to the rod
Of winter storms, yet budding cheerfully;
Those forest oaks of Druid memory,
Shall long survive, to shelter the Abode
Of genuine Faith. Where, haply, ‘mid this band
Of daisies, shepherds sate of yore and wove
May-garlands, there let the holy altar stand
For kneeling adoration; while above,
Broods, visibly portrayed, the mystic Dove,
That shall protect from blasphemy the Land.