Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BLIND PREACHER, by YAKOV POLONSKY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BLIND PREACHER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Upon a lonely road at shut of day
Last Line: "the stones of the wilderness returned ""amen""."
Subject(s): Clergy; Faith; Priests; Rabbis; Ministers; Bishops; Belief; Creed


UPON a lonely road at shut of day
Bede, the blind preacher, leaning on a lad
To stay his steps, barefoot -- what clothes he had
Fluttering loose in the breeze -- took his rough way.

More grisly grew the inhuman wild, and blank:
Nothing but here a pine-trunk, ages old,
There a grey boulder jutting from the mould,
Bearded with shaggy moss and lichens dank.

The lad was tired. Perhaps a bush in reach
Showed tempting berries; or, for the mere jest,
To fool the blind -- "I'll go," says he, "to rest,
And now's your time if you've a mind to preach.

"Shepherds have seen us from the high hillside;
Women are here expecting, children hem
The path, grey elders -- speak of God to them,
And of His son for our sins crucified."

A sudden glamour lit the age-worn face.
As springs rock-bound upbursting crack their shell,
So from his wan lips burst the living well
Of inspiration, like a torrent race.

He spoke as faith can speak. The blind man seemed
To read the Apocalypse behind the skies:
Heavenward his frail head beckoned prophet-wise;
Tears in his disillumined sockets gleamed.

Look! now the pale moon drops behind the hill;
The red gold in the East begins to kindle;
Night vapours deep in valley bottoms dwindle....
But when the Saint in rapture, preaching still,

Felt his arm nudged, and heard the laughing boy's
"Enough! There's no one left -- let's on again,"
And ceased, bowing his head in silence, -- then
All round with vast and congregated noise
The stones of the wilderness returned "Amen".





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