Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, RIDDLE OF GOD, by PAUL SOUTHWORTH BLISS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

RIDDLE OF GOD, by                    
First Line: Riders three and they leaped away
Last Line: Nor the black needed whip or goad.
Subject(s): God; Prayer; Self-love


Riders three and they leaped away
Down the forest's vaulted road;
And not the sorrel and not the gray
Nor the black needed whip or goad.

The three drew rein at a wayside spring,
In a glen called Hermit's Place --
And they talked of poet and priest and king,
And the lords of the outer space.

"God is maker of earth and star,
And ruler of quick and dead --
One with Polaris and Zanzibar,"
The first of the riders said.

The second called Him "Fountain of Good,"
And "Healer of Woe and Pain!"
A third voice rang through the echoing wood,
And this was its bold refrain:

"God is myself at my uttermost!
I speak it never in jest --
Not in derision and not in boast;
But . . . God is myself at my best!"

The riders mounted and leaped away
Down the forest's vaulted road;
And not the sorrel and not the gray,
Nor the black needed whip or goad.





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