@3Oh foolish people, and without understanding; that have eyes and see not.@1 St. Francis, Buddha, Tolstoi, and Saint John— Friends, if you four, as pilgrims, hand in hand, Returned, the hate of earth once more to dare, And walked upon the water and the land, If you, with words celestial, stopped these kings For sober conclave, ere their battle great, Would they for one deep instant then discern Their crime, their heart-rot, and their fiends' estate? If you should float above the battle's front, Pillars of cloud, of fire that does not slay, Bearing a fifth within your regal train, The Son of David in his strange array— If, in his majesty, he towered toward Heaven, Would they have hearts to see or understand? ... Nay, for he hovers there to-night we know, Thorn-crowned above the water and the land. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD by ROBERT BROWNING THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT A ROUGH RHYME ON A ROUGH MATTER; THE ENGLISH GAME LAWS by CHARLES KINGSLEY TIPPERARY: 4. BY OUR OWN A. E. HOUSMAN by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS PHILOCTETES: PHILOCTETES CALLS FOR DEATH by AESCHYLUS ROMERO by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE WANDERER: 5. IN HOLLAND: THE SHORE by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON |