Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CARPENTER'S SON, by ANNIE JOHNSON FLINT


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CARPENTER'S SON, by                    
First Line: The little shop at nazareth
Last Line: And love--thy love--that held thee fast.
Subject(s): Jesus Christ


The little shop at Nazareth,
The peaceful life for which it stood,
The clear, strong, ringing hammer-strokes,
The droning saw, the riven wood,
The murmur of the smoothing plane,
The scent of shavings freshly curled--
When Thou hadst left them all behind
And gone Thy way into the world,
Where men would hate Thee and revile,
And one betray Thee with a kiss,
And one deny, and all forsake,
Was there one added pang in this,

That tools of Thy familiar craft
Should be the things that wounded Thee--
The hammer and the driven nails,
The wood of that accursed tree?
Ah, no! Thou Crowned and Crucified,
Thou Power of God that seemed to fail;
'Twas not of wood Thy cross was made,
'Twas not the hammer and the nail
That drove the blows and fixed Thee there,
And pierced Thy hands and feet at last;
Man's hatred and man's sin the cross,
And love--Thy love--that held Thee fast.





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