 | Poems |  |
30
THE PRODIGAL.
Why feedest thou on husks so coarse and rude?
I could not be content with angels' food.
I could not be content with angels' food.
How camest thou companion to the swine?
I loathed the courts of heaven, the choir divine.
I loathed the courts of heaven, the choir divine.
Who bade thee crouch in hovel dark and drear?
I left a palace wide to hide me here.
I left a palace wide to hide me here.
Harsh tyrant's slave who made thee, once so free?
A father's rule too heavy seemed to me.
A father's rule too heavy seemed to me.
What sordid rags float round thee on the breeze?
I laid immortal robes aside for these.
I laid immortal robes aside for these.
An exile through the world who bade thee roam?
None, but I wearied of a happy home.
None, but I wearied of a happy home.
Why must thou dweller in a desert be?
A garden seemed not fair enough to me.
A garden seemed not fair enough to me.
Why sue a beggar at the mean world's door?
To live on God's large bounty seemed so poor.
To live on God's large bounty seemed so poor.
What has thy forehead so to earthward brought?
To lift it higher than the stars I thought.
To lift it higher than the stars I thought.
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