Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RETURN!, by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RETURN!, by                    
First Line: We pray / lord christ, come down again
Last Line: Return! Return!
Alternate Author Name(s): Oxenham, John
Subject(s): Jesus Christ; Religion; Theology


We pray --
"Lord Christ, come down again,
And dwell with us, the sons of men!"

Yet why?
Not for His coming need we pray,
Since He is with us, night and day;
Closer than breath, than life, than death,
Our Lord is here, --
Is waiting, waiting, sad and lonely,
Waiting ever, waiting only
Till, with vision clear,
We shall forsake our devious ways,
And come in from the wilderness
To claim His proffered grace.

See Him -- sad and lonely, waiting --
For our coming only waiting --
While, with wilful heart, we still
Go wandering down the flowery ways,
And seek our good in every place
Save where is righteousness;
And still elect the lower part,
Lest our own lower selves we thwart
And make our pleasures less.

Yes, surely Christ is with us now
As truly as when, long ago,
He put aside His high estate,
And lived man's life below,
And, dying, left His proxy meet, --
His fuller Self, His Comfort Sweet, --
His Advocate, the Paraclete,
To make His Love complete.

Not -- "God to men
Return!"
But -- "Man to God
Return!" --
Is man's one need to-day.
O, sons of men, and sons of God,
The Son of Man, the Son of God
Stands waiting for you in the Way; --
Heart, life, and soul,
He claims you whole, --
To-Day, -- To-Day, -- To-Day!

Return! Return!
To Him again,
Ye sons of men,
Return!
To Him Who grace alone can give, --
To Him through Whom alone we live, --
Return! Return!





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