 | The Literary Works of James Smetham |  |
271
THE HUNDREDFOLD REWARD
Joses the Levite paced his acres wide,Like Isaac in the fields at eventide:
He sowed, he reaped, his long fleeced sheep he sheared,
His ox he watered, or his lambs he reared,
And thought, perhaps, to end his simple days
Where cool trees whispered o'er his silent ways.
Time changes all things: other footsteps trod
Those dear possessions of the man of God;
His heart he gave, and then his land he sold
For Him who pays in coin more rich than gold;
Through many unknown lands he strayed and taught
Of treasures hidden in a field unbought;
The broken heart he healed, the lost he found,
Opened blind eyes, and stanched the mortal wound,
Cast forth fierce devils, ushered angels in,
Cleared out bright spaces in the wilds of sin:
Then rested in the fields of Asphodel,
Where saints have all, and neither buy nor sell;
And through all Time's long hours high fame he won,
God's prophet pure, and Consolation's Son.
1868.
| The Literary Works of James Smetham | |