Once for the least of children of Manasses God had a message and a deed to do, Wherefore the welcome that all speech surpasses Called him and hailed him greater than he knew; Asked him no more, but followed him and found him, Filled him with valour, slung him with a sword, Bade him go on until the tribes around him Mingled his name with naming of the Lord. Also of John a calling and a crying Rang in Bethabara by Jordan's flow; Art thou the Christ? they asked of his denying; Art thou that Prophet? and he answered, No. John, than which man a sadder or a greater Not till this day has been of woman born, John like some lonely peak by the Creator Fired with the red glow of the rushing morn. This when the sun shall rise and overcome it Stands in his shining desolate and bare, Yet not the less the inexorable summit Flamed him his signal to the happier air. So with the Lord: he takes and he refuses, Finds him ambassadors whom men deny, Wise ones nor mighty for his saints he chooses, No, such as John or Gideon or I. He as he wills shall solder and shall sunder, Slay in a day and quicken in an hour, Tune him a music from the Sons of Thunder, Forge and transform my passion into power. Ay, for this Paul, a scorn and a despising, Weak as you know him and the wretch you see,— Even in these eyes shall ye behold him rising, Strength in infirmities and Christ in me. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GREENNESS by ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE ELAINE by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY MUSIC IN CAMP by JOHN REUBEN THOMPSON LOST ART by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A SPIRITUAL AND WELL-ORDERED MIND by HENRY ALFORD MERCY PLEADS by LUCRETIA STOUT BELLOWS VERBATIM FROM BOILEAU by NICOLAS BOILEAU-DESPREAUX |