 | Verse in bloom |  |
69
THE CLUSTER OF TEMPTATION
The carriers of the figs were far ahead
With them that bore the gathered load
Of pomegranates, since they had lighter sped
Than two that ached along the desert road.
With them that bore the gathered load
Of pomegranates, since they had lighter sped
Than two that ached along the desert road.
These twain had lost the vanguard. Full of care,
They toiled across a ridge of billowed sand
Beneath the rocks that weariness must dare
While journeying homeward from the Promised Land.
They toiled across a ridge of billowed sand
Beneath the rocks that weariness must dare
While journeying homeward from the Promised Land.
Cried sunburnt Joshua, the resolute,
Yet almost travel-broken, pioneer,
While lifting down the glorious bunch of fruit
From off his shoulder, “Eventide is near;
Yet almost travel-broken, pioneer,
While lifting down the glorious bunch of fruit
From off his shoulder, “Eventide is near;
70
Go, Caleb! It were like our God to give,
Perchance for but an hour of time, to quell
The thirst that barely suffers us to live
His honest servants, a reviving well.
Perchance for but an hour of time, to quell
The thirst that barely suffers us to live
His honest servants, a reviving well.
Go, Caleb! Yet, if thou wilt guard the prize
We vowed upon our knees to carry whole
To where the anxious heart of Moses tries
To be as valiant as his valiant soul,
We vowed upon our knees to carry whole
To where the anxious heart of Moses tries
To be as valiant as his valiant soul,
Thy friend and comrade, howsoever spent
By what has been for thee a hard distress,
Will go to look if haply God has lent
A jewel of water to His wilderness.”
By what has been for thee a hard distress,
Will go to look if haply God has lent
A jewel of water to His wilderness.”
Then Caleb answered, “Thou hast given thy work
Not only to the bunch and to the stern
Commandment of thyself, too brave to shirk
The perilous going and the rough return,
Not only to the bunch and to the stern
Commandment of thyself, too brave to shirk
The perilous going and the rough return,
But also hast created for thy friend
A second heart, and lifted him beyond
Betrayal of the promise to defend,
In union with thyself, his sacred bond.
A second heart, and lifted him beyond
Betrayal of the promise to defend,
In union with thyself, his sacred bond.
71
Be mine the search for water! Mine the joy,
If God permit, of bringing it to thee!
Guard thou the grapes, that nothing shall destroy
The cluster thou hast often saved from me.”
If God permit, of bringing it to thee!
Guard thou the grapes, that nothing shall destroy
The cluster thou hast often saved from me.”
Then Caleb tottered forward. Keen his look
Among the broken rocks; intent his prayer
For but the cool beginning of a brook,
Till darkness gloomed his spirit with despair.
Among the broken rocks; intent his prayer
For but the cool beginning of a brook,
Till darkness gloomed his spirit with despair.
In turn anear the prize the heroes slept,
And dreamed of home and peril and escapes;
And, loyal as the stars above them, kept
Their faith as flawless as the bunch of grapes.
And dreamed of home and peril and escapes;
And, loyal as the stars above them, kept
Their faith as flawless as the bunch of grapes.
Such were Jehovah's Captains. Such the hearts
He made and reared, He strengthened and controlled.
We find them beating in a hundred parts
Of Scripture. We, not they, are growing old.
He made and reared, He strengthened and controlled.
We find them beating in a hundred parts
Of Scripture. We, not they, are growing old.
| Verse in bloom | |