Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SHEPHERD, by WILLIAM SHARP


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SHEPHERD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: He loved me, as he said, in every part
Last Line: —nay, vain, vain words: how shall he understand?
Alternate Author Name(s): Macleod, Fiona
Subject(s): Faith; Jesus Christ; Love; Man-woman Relationships; Shepherds & Shepherdesses; Belief; Creed; Male-female Relations


I

He loved me, as he said, in every part,
And yet I could not, would not, give him all:
Why should a woman forfeit her whole heart
At bidding of a single shepherd's call?
One vast the deep, and yet each wave is free
To answer to the moonshine's drowsy smile
Or leap to meet the storm-wind's rapturous glee:
This heart of mine a wave is oftenwhile.
Depth below depth, strange currents cross, recross,
The anguished eddies ebb and flow,
But on the placid surface seldom toss
The reckless flotsam of what seeths below:
O placid calms and maelstrom heart of me,
Shall it be thus till there be no more sea?

II

"I am thy shepherd, love, that on this hill
Of life shall tend and guard thee evermore."
These were thy words that far-off day and still
Lives on thine echoing lips this bond of yore.
Yet who wert thou, O soul as I am, thus
To take so blithely gage of shepherding?
Were we not both astray where perilous
Steps might each into the abysmal darkness fling?
Lo, my tired soul even as a storm-stayed ewe
Across the heights unto my shepherd cried:
But to the sheltered vale at last I drew
And laid me weary by the sleeping side.
Thou didst not hear The Shepherd calling us,
Nor far the night wind, vibrant, ominous.

III

O shepherd of mine, lord of my little life,
Guard me from knowledge even of the stress:
And if I stray, take heed thou of thy wife,
Errant from mere woman's wantonness.
Even as the Lord of Hosts, lo, in thy hand,
The hollow of thy hand, my soul support:
Guide this poor derelict back unto the land
And lead me, pilot, to thy sheltering port!
No—no—keep back—away—not now thy kiss:
O shepherd, pilot, wake! awake! awake!
The deep must whelm us both! Hark, the waves hiss,
And as a shaken leaf the land doth shake!
Awake, O shepherding soul, and take command!—
—Nay, vain, vain words: how shall he understand?





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