Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE PUPPETS, by WILSON PUGSLEY MACDONALD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE PUPPETS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I walked into a cathedral's eternal twilight
Last Line: Even as he had been well pleased with him of old.
Subject(s): Worship


I WALKED into a cathedral's eternal twilight,
Waded down an aisle flooding with sweet music
And whispered to a mortal at my side:
"Whom do you worship, pilgrim?" and the pilgrim said:
"I worship the Christ."

With the sweet music bathing my temples,
And trickling like cool waters into the caverns of my heart,
I took a resting-place in the great, solemn sanctuary.
"I am full of worship," I said, "and I must worship something.
I will learn of the Christ and perhaps I will worship Him."

"I will tell you of Christ," said the worshipper.
"Nay, tell me not," I cried, "for I have read many histories of Him.
But, pilgrim, histories may lie, so I will learn of Him
From the actions of these who are His followers."

And I watched the proud and the poor come into the place of worship.
And the proud assembled in the high places,
And the poor sat timidly in the shadows of the pillars.
And the proud chanted with a loud voice,
And the poor could scarcely be heard.

Then uprose a company of singers and they sang,
In the clear bird-tones of the morning of life:
"Glory to God in the highest."
And the worshippers heard them not as they sang,
Because of their interest in one another.
Then a mortal, not unlike other mortals, came out and declaimed:
"Christ is God: will ye take the Christ into your hearts?"

And I arose and spoke unto the astonished multitudes:
"If Christ is God then are the heavens debased;
If Christ is man then is our manhood degraded,
For I behold He loveth the rich and despiseth the poor;
He loveth the fine garments of men
Better than the sweet incense of holy music --
Else why do the rich occupy all the high places in His house,
And why do so many notes of praise fly unnoticed unto God?"
And I passed out of the twilight temple into the morning of full light.
And as I departed I broke a puppet image of their Christ
On the hard pavement of the portals of their holy place.

Other voices, singing in unison, greeted me;
And I went into a sanctuary full of light.
Here the rich also held the more comfortable seats,
But the poor were bold and unashamed.
And a flippant creature with great power of lung
Trilled her own glory in the face of God.
And a mortal, not unlike other mortals, stood up and declaimed:
"Christ is God: will ye take the Christ into your hearts?
For if ye receive Him not into your unholy souls
Then shall the fires of hell consume you forever."
And the men in the high places said "Amen" first,
And the men in the low places repeated "Amen."
And then young men and women arose, one after the other,
And they all said with the same fervor: "I love the Christ."
And I knew they spoke thus because fire is hot
And eternity is a long time.

And I arose and spoke also unto these peoples:
"If Christ is God then are the heavens debased;
If Christ is man then is our manhood degraded;
For I behold He loveth best those that speak the loudest,
He loveth a strong voice that lacks praise
Better than the poor, unmusical notes of the faithful."
And, as I passed out of this temple into the sweet morning,
I picked up another puppet image of the Christ
And broke it on the hard pavement of the portals
Of their holy place.

Many holy places did I visit on that morning,
And every holy place possessed its puppet Christ,
And I left a dozen portals littered with fragments.
And still the day was young and I was full of worship.
"Something must I worship," I said, and I went into the fields
And fell asleep under the trees and dreamed a dream.

In my dream I beheld all the broken puppets scattered over the field.
Then like a dead leaf in the wind an eye of one puppet arose
And an ear from another moved over and joined it.
And each broken puppet made its contribution;
And soon did a perfect figure appear. Then it moved,
Straightened into magnificent stature, and said:
"Lo! I am Jesus."

And I asked: "Dost Thou love the rich better than the poor?"
And He smiled a great smile and said unto me:
"Art thou not poor and am I not come hither unto thee
Even at an hour when the temples are filled with worshippers!"
And again I said: "Jesus, tell me, art Thou God or man?"
And the figure replied: "Sayest thou I am God or sayest thou I am man?"
And I answered "God" and He stooped and kissed me.
And then I repented and said "Man," and He kissed me again;
And the last kiss was sweeter than the first.

And He arose and said: "Follow Me,
And thou shalt hear what the churches think of the Christ."
And the first church He entered was the mightiest church of all --
And He announced himself unto the people, saying:
"I am the Christ."
And the assembled ones arose and cried with one voice:
"Thou hast the hair of Christ but thine eyes are not His eyes;
Depart, for thou art an impostor."
And He left them with an old look of sorrow upon His face --
A look which a multitude of men on the Mount of Olives had once beheld.
And so He passed on to another body of worshippers,
But they too cried:
"Thou hast the eyes of Christ but not His hands."
Thus none of the people would receive Him,
And He passed back to the field as lonesomely
As ever He passed through the weeping trees of Geth-semane.

And I awoke from my dream
And looked to see where the broken fragments were piled,
But where I dreamed they lay
Stood a mute chorus of white daisies, nodding in the wind.
And from their assent I knew that God was well pleased
With His Beloved One,
Even as He had been well pleased with Him of old.





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