 | The Vision of Prophecy and Other Poems |  |
225
BOAZ AND THE REAPERS.
“And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the
reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, The
Lord bless thee.”—Ruth ii. 4.
O simple piety of early days,
When the kind master, 'mid his golden sheaves,
Greets in God's name his reapers, and receives
Their greeting in devout and fervent phrase.
Here gladness dwells, and peace, which pastoral lays
Have pictured never,—sacred peace which springs
Beneath the shadow of Religion's wings.
When from a nation's heart its faith decays,
An inward and uniting virtue dies;
All social elements in that great wane
Become distempered,—firm and genial ties
Relax, to part when comes the testing strain,—
And those once linked by steadfast sympathies
Stand sundered, in defiance and disdain.
| The Vision of Prophecy and Other Poems | |