Reuben and Other Poems by Robert Leighton |
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 | Reuben and Other Poems |  |
Her eyes fell on the damp earth where she stood,
And there a daisy in sweet solitude
Was meekly folding to the setting sun,
And all around it not another one.
Its loneliness so touch'd her heart that she
Let go her sorrow, and on bended knee
Gazed deep into the being of the flower,
And seem'd its sweet existence to devour:
“Dear God, dear God, what need have I to doubt
Thy far-descending care, which leaves not out
Even this lowly daisy? Dear, dear, look!
Within its leaves a spray-drop from the brook
Gleams like a star; Thy sun that rules the day
E'en stoops to glorify a drop of spray!
O, nothing is too lowly for Thy light,
Nor any soul unworthy in Thy sight.
If this poor daisy, looking to the sky,
Is dower'd with such radiance, may not I,
By looking unto Thee, O God, receive
The spirit, at whose touch all troubles leave?
When Thou thyself didst walk this earth, God-Christ,
'Twas not the rich man, not the learned priest
That got Thy benedictions, but the poor;
Yea, even those that begg'd from door to door,
And orphans, widows—all that were distressed;
If they but kneel'd unto thee and confess'd
Their sins, as I do now, they rose up pure—
Lord of the lowly, thou! friend of the poor!”
And there a daisy in sweet solitude
Was meekly folding to the setting sun,
And all around it not another one.
Its loneliness so touch'd her heart that she
Let go her sorrow, and on bended knee
Gazed deep into the being of the flower,
And seem'd its sweet existence to devour:
“Dear God, dear God, what need have I to doubt
Thy far-descending care, which leaves not out
Even this lowly daisy? Dear, dear, look!
Within its leaves a spray-drop from the brook
Gleams like a star; Thy sun that rules the day
E'en stoops to glorify a drop of spray!
O, nothing is too lowly for Thy light,
Nor any soul unworthy in Thy sight.
If this poor daisy, looking to the sky,
Is dower'd with such radiance, may not I,
By looking unto Thee, O God, receive
The spirit, at whose touch all troubles leave?
When Thou thyself didst walk this earth, God-Christ,
'Twas not the rich man, not the learned priest
That got Thy benedictions, but the poor;
Yea, even those that begg'd from door to door,
196
If they but kneel'd unto thee and confess'd
Their sins, as I do now, they rose up pure—
Lord of the lowly, thou! friend of the poor!”
| Reuben and Other Poems | |