University of Virginia Library


75

BARTIMEUS RESTORED TO SIGHT.

Blind, poor, and helpless, Bartimeus sate,
Listening the foot of the wayfaring man,
Still hoping that the next, and still the next,
Would put an alms into his trembling hand.
He thinks he hears the coming breeze faint rustle
Among the sycamores; it is the tread
Of thousand steps; it is the hum of tongues
Innumerable: But when the sightless man
Heard that the Nazarene was passing by,
He cried, and said,—“Jesus, thou son of David,
Have mercy upon me!” and, when rebuked,
He cried the more, “Have mercy upon me.”
Thy faith hath made thee whole; so Jesus spake,
And straight the blind beheld the face of God.