Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE LAW OF THE SALT, by MARIE BATTERHAM LINDSEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE LAW OF THE SALT, by                    
First Line: This is the law of the salt, gainsay it ye who will
Last Line: Stick to him ever and always, so you be not a thing abhorred.
Subject(s): Customs, Social; Hospitality


This is the law of the salt, gainsay it ye who will,
Whether you eat at the Master's board, or the wee cot under the hill,
Whether you eat at the campfire when the wind is blowing chill,
This is the law of the salt, whatever, wherever the kill.

So, when your hand has offered; so, when your hand has taken,
Whether you use your fingers, or whether the salt is shaken,
This is the law of the salt -- dullards and dolts awaken,
Old as the hills, p'raps older -- none can tell of the makin'.

Beautiful law it is, law that I love today,
The cave man must have known it in some long-forgotten way,
No matter the man you eat with, his breed, his color, or worth,
Though he hail from the slums of the city, though he know not the place of his
birth,
This is the law of the salt, in plenty, in times of dearth,
Hold him even as Brother; you have guaged yourself by his worth.

Speak no evil of him; you have taken his bed and his board;
You have broken your bread at his table, -- it was his to give or hoard.
Henceforth you are more than blood brothers; I swear it by fire and by sword,
By the hope of heaven I hold me, and by the name of the Risen Lord,
Stick to him ever and always, so you be not a thing abhorred.





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