Lilliput Levee :: :: University of Virginia Library

Toward Jericho, at morning-tide,
Went Christ the Lord, with disciples three;
Peter, who walked by the Master's side,
Said, “Lord, what would I not do for Thee?”

And of many things the Master talked,
While the sun rose higher, and higher yet,
Till it came to pass, as forth they walked,
And came to the road at Olivet,

That Jesus saw a horse's shoe,
In Peter's path, upon the way,
And bade him (what would not Peter do?)
Take up the horseshoe from where it lay.

But he would not stoop for a thing so small,
Gem nor jewel, silver nor gold!
So He stooped for it, who is Lord of All,
And hid it close in his garment's fold.

And the Lord in the village exchanged the shoe
For a measure of cherries ripe and red,
And gathered them up in his garment too,
As forth from the village now they sped.

And still, as the sun rose high and higher,
Stonier and steeper grew the way,
Where the tall white rocks flung back the fire,
On the travellers' heads, of the fierce noonday.

And they were weary, the travellers four,
Of the dusty road, and the heat and thirst,
And Peter, the bold, who thirsted sore,
Walked slow behind, and Jesus first.

Then our loving Lord,—who is Lord of all,
Who hungered and thirsted for our sake,
Who bears with the froward, stoops to the small,
And shuns the bruised reed to break,—

Dropped, one by one, in Peter's way,
The little red cherries, cool and moist,
And Peter stooped to them where they lay,
And ate them; and his heart rejoiced.

Then Jesus said, with a smile in his eyes,
“To little things he who will not bend,
Perhaps to matters of smaller size,—
Nor silver nor gold; nor jewel-prize,—
May learn to stoop down before the end.”