Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AN EASTERN GOD, by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER Poem Explanation Poet's Biography First Line: I saw an eastern god to-day Last Line: "o guard my love, where'er he be." Alternate Author Name(s): Sigerson, Dora; Shorter, Mrs. Clement Subject(s): Idols; Prayer | ||||||||
I SAW an Eastern God to-day; My comrades laughed; lest I betray My secret thoughts, I mocked him too. His many hands (he had no few, This God of gifts and charity), The marble face, that smiled on me, I mocked, and said, "O God unthroned, Lone exile from the faith you owned, No priest to bring you sacrifice, No censer with its breath of spice, No land to mourn your funeral pyre; O King, whose subjects felt your fire, Now dead, now stone, without a slave, Unfeared, unloved, you have no grave. Poor God, who cannot understand! And what of your fair Eastern land, What dark brows brushed your dusky feet, What warm hearts on your marble beat, With many a prayer unanswered?" My comrades laughed and passed. I said, "If in those lands you wander still, In spirit, God, and work your will," I whispered in the marble ear So lowbecause the walls might hear The painted lips they smiled at me "O guard my love, where'er he be." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN LISTEN, LORD: A PRAYER by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A PRAYER FOR THE FUTURE by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) DIFFERENT WAYS TO PRAY by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE PRAYER DURING A TIME MY SON IS HAVING SEIZURES by SHARON OLDS WE WHO PRAYED AND WEPT by WENDELL BERRY PRAYERS AND SAYINGS OF THE MAD FARMER by WENDELL BERRY THE WIND ON THE HILLS by DORA SIGERSON SHORTER |
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