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Page 4
Aye so, He said prayer should be in his name,
And taught us how to use it. Properly
'Twould fit my lips - His name a plea for me!
Would God that Baal had a life in him
And could at least do harm. I'd pray to him
"Baal, for love of my great sin, do thou
Give me kind nothingness, make me a thing
Like thy block image, soulless, ignorant
Of light and darkness and of any thought."
"Baal," I'd say, "fall on me, batter me
To piecemeal rubbish, and drag down my soul
To thy void chaos where 'twill rot with thee,
To thy void chaos where God will not come,
Nor Jesus."
Did my heart leap to him once,
Our holy Master? Surely it did once.
I left my home, even as the others left,
Left all my worldly goods to follow him,
Even as the others, bore with scoffs and taunts,
And tender sad reproach more hard to bear.
I loved the holiness he taught, I loved
The love, I loved the glorious saintly scorn
Of all things tyrannous and cunning, loved
The pitying tenderness for all things weak.
And then his talk stirred longings in my heart
For freer breath than we draw now, strong days
Rid of the hindering trammels we have now,
Justice and mercy in our streets, rich peace,
And God to rule and judge us as of old.
I thought the looked-for King was come in Him,
And he would so deliver us. I looked
To see the Romans scattered, fleeing hence,
Calling in terror on their idle gods,
Before avenging Israel. I looked
To have our Zion sing the song of praise,
And the hills laugh with golden harvests thick
Up to their brows, and the green valleys ring
With singing of full rivers through the fields,
Because the great Messiah King was come
With spoils in His right-hand of all our foes
And blessings for the people. But he seemed
To bow the neck to Cæsar patiently
And care for no deliverance. Poverty
Was the first blessing that he offered us
To make the world a kind one. And we saw,
We who were watching, for his cry to sound
"Now Israel to your tents," we who believed
We should be leaders under him and lords,
To have the people honour us, and live
In our ceiled palaces among the tribes
Content and prospering around us, saw
He would but teach submission to the yoke,
Saw we were only chosen to be poor
More than all others, meaner, more despised,
Servants of servants, we. And many turned,
And saw his face no more. But I remained,
I loved his teaching though it angered me,
I saw the greatness of it.
Next |
A Woman Sold
Bartimaeus
Judas
Pilate
The Walk To Emmaus
A Bride
A March Night
A Messenger
A Mother's Cry
A Wedding
Afterwards
Dead Amy
Deserted
Dreaming
Glad Waves
Going
How The Brook Sings
If
In The Storm
In The Sunshine
Looking Downstairs
Mary Lost
Never Again
Night Whispers
On The Lake
On The Shore
Our Lily
Passing Away
Perjured
Safe
Shadow
Sunlight
The Blush Rose
The Gift
The Heiress' Wooer
The Hidden Wound
The Lake
The Land Of Happy Dreams
The Old Year Out
The Red Star On The Hill
The River
The Setting Star
The Shadow Of A Cloud
To And Fro
To One Of Many
Too faithful
Two Maidens |
