JESSIE, as I came home to-day I saw That crippled man upon the flags we have So often seen, who moves our pity so; I watched him crawl along the sunny street, Through heedless crowds, until he reached the place Where crossings meet, and there he flung aside His strong companions, those two crutches worn, And sat him down upon the stones and gazed, And gazed, and gazed. Then, Jessie, all my tears Rose to my eyes and in the street I wept So I could hardly speak for weeping, but I came close up to him and paused and said, "Oh! I could break my heart against these stones To see you thus. I'd give my limbs to be Utterly broken and torn, if only by My breaking I could give you perfectness." He smiled at me and stared with eyes -- oh! not Like eyes that I once saw, whose grief had plucked Majesty from despair; his had a strange Ignorant calm, fuller of peace than pain. Jessie, he is not sorry to lie there, He never weeps as I wept for him then; He finds contentment in the gaudy street, Music in carriage wheels, a houseless home Among the people, rest in their unrest. I turned away; but, looking once again, Saw how the sun rained fire upon his head; The wan face drooped on the half-covered breast, His eyelids closed, I thought that he was dead, -- He was but sleeping. Velvet-footed Sleep, Threading his way amid the crowds and din, Had taken him tenderly and laid him in The cradle quietness. Stretched on the ground I left him without weeping who had found Infinite pity above him and around. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COMPANIONS by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO RIDGELY TORRENCE - PLAYWRIGHT by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE WIZARD IN WORDS by MARIANNE MOORE VILLAGE IN LATE SUMMER by CARL SANDBURG THE SEALS IN PENOBSCOT BAY by KAREN SWENSON VIGNETTES OVERSEAS: 1. OFF GIBRALTAR by SARA TEASDALE PENITENTIAL PSALM: 6. DOMINE NE IN FURORE by THOMAS WYATT ILKA BLADE O' GRASS KEPS ITS AIN DRAP O' DEW by JAMES BALLANTYNE |