Classic and Contemporary Poetry
WHAT THE DEVIL SAID, by JAMES STEPHENS Poet's Biography First Line: It was night time! God, the father good Last Line: Satan's deep voice -- o thou unhappy god! Subject(s): Devil; Satan; Mephistopheles; Lucifer; Beelzebub | ||||||||
It was night time! God, the Father Good, Weary of praises, on a sudden stood From His great Throne, and leaned upon the sky: For He had heard a sound; a little cry, Thin as a whisper, climbing up the Steep. And so He looked to where the Earth, asleep, Rocked with the moon: He saw the whirling sea Swing round the world in surgent energy, Tangling the moonlight in its netted foam; And, nearer, saw the white and fretted dome Of the ice-capped pole spin back again a ray To whistling stars, bright as a wizard's day. But these He passed, with eyes intently wide, Till, closer still, the mountains He espied Squatting tremendous on the broad-backed Earth, Each nursing twenty rivers at a birth! And then, minutely, sought He for the cry That had climbed the slant of space so hugely high. He found it in a ditch outside a town: A tattered hungry woman, crouching down By a dead babe -- So there was nought to do, For what is done is done! And sad He drew Back to His Heaven of ivory and gold: And, as He sat, all suddenly there rolled, From where the woman wept upon the sod, Satan's deep voice -- O thou unhappy God! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE DEVIL'S SERMON by PHILIP JAMES BAILEY AND THE GREATEST OF THESE IS WAR by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE TEMPTRESS by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ADDRESS TO THE DEIL by ROBERT BURNS THE DEVIL'S WALK [ON EARTH] by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE SIFTING OF PETER by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW |
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