Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND', by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND', by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The highest by the lowest waits alway
Last Line: That I might force my children to be blessed
Subject(s): Heaven


The highest by the lowest waits alway:
The mountains by the valleys, heaven's arch
Above the crowding pettiness of earth
Serene and holy, purifying floods
Beside the festering caverns of the marsh.
Cathedrals neighboring hovels, and the stretch
Of endless ages past each dot of time.
Extend your hand from whatsoever place.
Though close and cramped by poverty and pain.
And you shall touch the best of all that is.
The Kingdom is at hand! Its robes of state
Are rustling ''" you may hear them ''" Just behind
This hindering wall of loneliness and grief.
Its herald Just approached you, well disguised
In ragged raiment soiled by work and wear.
Its treasury behind that closet door
Is full and shining. Close above your head
And ready to your reach its sceptre floats.
A step, and you may enter its broad lands.
A step, and you may sit upon its throne.
A word, and all Its armies leap to you.
For God is pressing man insistently
As any beggar, thrusting forth His good
In all but main compulsion. "Oh," He groans,
"That I might force my children to be blessed!"





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