Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE STATURE OF ZACCHAEUS, by AMOS RUSSEL WELLS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE STATURE OF ZACCHAEUS, by                 Poet's Biography
First Line: Zacchaeus struggled with the crowd
Last Line: He was a little man.
Subject(s): Size And Shape


Zacchaeus struggled with the crowd;
A little man was he.
"Vermin!" he muttered half aloud,
"I'll make them honor me.
Ah, when the taxes next are due,
I'll tower as is meet:
This beggarly, ill-mannered crew
Shall cower at my feet."

Zacchaeus climbed the sycomore
(He was a little man),
And as he looked the rabble o'er
He chuckled at the plan.
"I get the thing I want," he said,
"And that is to be tall.
They think me short, but by a head
I rise above them all."

"Zacchaeus, come! I dine with you,"
The famous Rabbi cried.
Zacchaeus tumbled into view
A giant in his pride.
He strutted mightily before
That silly, gaping throng;
You'd think him six feet high or more,
To see him stride along.

Zacchaeus listened to the Lord,
And as he listened, feared:
How was his life a thing abhorred
When that pure Life appeared!
Down to a dwarf he shrank away
In sorrow and in shame.
He owned his sins that very day,
And bore the heavy blame.

But as he rose before the crowd,
(A little man, alack!)
Confessed his guilt and cried aloud
And gave his plunder back,
I think he stood a giant then
As angels truly scan,
And no one ever thought again
He was a little man.





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