University of Virginia Library

[THE RAVEN]

RAVEN.
I was there.

POET.
I know it bird.
And when rain no more was heard
Plashing down in torrents wild;
When the face of heaven grew mild,
And from mountain-summits brown
The subsiding floods went down,
And the prisoned creatures fain
Scented the young earth again;
Wherefore when the patriarch forth
Sent thee to look round the earth
And bring tidings to his door,
Cam'st thou to the ark no more?

RAVEN.
Narrow was the ark, but wide
And fair the earth on every side;
And all around in glens and plains
Lay of life the lorn remains;
Man and beast and bird, like seed
Scattered on the harvest mead:
How could I return to bear
Tidings? I was feasting there!

POET.
Raven ha! I thought the same.
But in after times ye came,
To the exiled prophet good
Bringing him his daily food.

RAVEN.
Yes,—by Cherith-brook there grew
Mighty cedars not a few;
And a raven-tree was there
Spreading forth its branches bare.
'Twas our home, when thither ran
From the king an awful man,
Robed and sandalled as in haste,
With a girdle round his waist;
Strongly built, with brow severe,
And the bearing of a seer.
Down by Cherith-brook he lay;
And at morn and set of day
Thus a voice unto us said,
“By you must this man be fed;
Bring him flesh, and bring him bread!”
And by us he was supplied,
Duly morn and eventide,
Until Cherith-brook was dried!

POET.
Wondrous miracle of love!

RAVEN.
Doth it thus thy spirit move?
Deeper truth than this shall reach thee,
Christ he bade the raven teach thee:
They plough not, said he, nor reap,
Nor have costly hoards to keep;
Storehouse none, nor barn have they,
Yet God feeds them every day!
Fret not then your souls with care
What to eat, or what to wear,
He who hears the ravens' cry
Looketh with a pitying eye
On his human family.

POET.
Raven thou art spirit-cheering;
What thou say'st is worth the hearing;
Never more be it averred
That thou art a doleful bird!