 | Jones Very : The Complete Poems |  |
534
The Calling
The Voice that spake to Abraham of old,Go, leave thy Country, to our fathers spake;
And made them, with like faith and courage bold,
The ties of kindred and of home to break.
Austere and strict were they, yet kind and pure;
Above the common level they had risen,
And, taught by Persecution to endure,
Their faith and hopes were fixed on God and heaven.
Why name, among those worthies bold and true,
Brave-hearted Endicott, who led the van;
Or Higginson, who, midst the suffering few,
Lent glory to the name of Puritan?
Beyond the western ocean's farthest bound
New homes they sought, a Commonwealth to found.
Poem No. 587; c. 1878–80
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