Hear ye this parable. A man Did plant a garden. Vine and tree Alike, in course of time, began To put forth fair and pleasantly. The rains of heaven, the persuading sun Came down alike on each and every one. Yet some trees wilful grew, and some Strong vines grew gaily in the sun, With gaudy leaves, that ever come To naught. And yet, each flaunting one Did flourish on triumphantly and glow Like sunset clouds in all their moving show. But lo! the harvest found them not. The soul had perished from them. Mould And muck and leaf lay there to rot, And furnish nourishment untold To patient tree and lowly creeping vine That grew as grew the Husbandman's design. Hear then this lesson; hear and heed: I say that chaff shall perish; say Man's soul is like unto a seed To grow unto the Judgment Day. It grows and grows if he will have it grow; It perishes if he must have it so. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MISS KILMANSEGG AND HER PRECIOUS LEG: HER MORAL by THOMAS HOOD THE QUESTION by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY WISTFULNESS by KATHARINE ADAMS NOT TO BE MINISTERED TO by MALTBIE DAVENPORT BABCOCK UNREASONABLE REASON by JOSEPH BEAUMONT THE WANDERER'S RETURN by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT |