Sun-browned and worn with toil, he leaned awhile On his bright spade, and looked into the West. His eyes were soft with thought. St. Francis came, Noiseless, and stood beside, then gently said: "Brother, what seest thou?" Deep he drew breath Of long contentment. "When you evening light Touches my cottage roof-tree -- lo, see there How flames the thatch beneath the glowing rays -- I love to look across the reddened world And thank my God, Who keeps me; love to muse And through the circling hours and changing years, As days tread slow on days, He works for me. I see you shaggy hillside, grown with vines; His own all-sedulous Hand doth mold each bud And twine each tendril round its destined stay. How soft the pastures roll! He greens them o'er With countless grass tips, each His utter care, As are the swinging stars. The chestnuts spread Wide-armed and dark -- He builds their buttressed limbs Against the storm, and when they groan and sway They call to Him for succor. And the birds! How far and free they ride the weightless air, And fall and soar and circle -- ah, they feel In swiftest onrush of their dizzy flight His Hand beneath them. And you waving wheat That ripples all its shining blades with joy Beneath the summer's winds -- He bids it grow, It, and the clustered vines, to furnish forth His Holy Table! So mine evening thoughts Run on and on, thus mingled; all the world Speaking of God, my Lord, and when the West Flames like a chalice, and its flooding rays Frame the fair sun, poised ere he veils his light, Methinks the whole vast world is figured there. God is its Sun! and it but gleams to show In myriad forms, the One Eternal Fair That bade it be." He paused, and could no more. Then Francis prayed, his eyes besieging heaven. "O God, My Father, I do give Thee praise, That Thou hast spoken to these simple hearts, What pride and troubled learning faint to know. They search the spheres for light: this man of toil, Sees Thee, O Light, in all Thy common world! And where Thy love hath placed him, finds his peace." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BRAVE OLD OAK by HENRY FOTHERGILL CHORLEY THE BLACK RIDERS: 1 by STEPHEN CRANE COLUMBUS [JANUARY, 1487] by LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY THE PALACE OF ART by ALFRED TENNYSON POPULAR BALLAD: NEVER FORGET YOUR PARENTS by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS STARRY NIGHT by KENNETH SLADE ALLING THE RIVER-GOD'S SONG by FRANCIS BEAUMONT |