 | Irish Poems |  |
102
THE PARABLE OF THE RICH MAN
To Mr. Justice Gibson
Lord Jesus stood at Paradise gate
And saw a myriad worlds and stars.
Oh what is this so desolate
Clinging to the gold bars?
And saw a myriad worlds and stars.
Oh what is this so desolate
Clinging to the gold bars?
The salt spume on its eyes and lips,
The seaweed tangled in its hair.
Oh, scourged with bitter thorns and whips,
What seas have stripped thee bare?
The seaweed tangled in its hair.
Oh, scourged with bitter thorns and whips,
What seas have stripped thee bare?
Lord Jesus bowed His comely head
With: “What art thou, thou thing forlorn?”
“Oh, I am a rich man's soul,” it said,
“That died ere I was born.
With: “What art thou, thou thing forlorn?”
“Oh, I am a rich man's soul,” it said,
“That died ere I was born.
By Thine own lips was judgment given,
Yea, judgment sharper than a sword.
How shall a rich man enter heaven?
Yea, Thou hast said it, Lord.”
Yea, judgment sharper than a sword.
How shall a rich man enter heaven?
Yea, Thou hast said it, Lord.”
103
It was the dead oped lips to cry
“How should I save my soul, alas!
Since easier through the needle's eye
The camel's shape should pass?”
“How should I save my soul, alas!
Since easier through the needle's eye
The camel's shape should pass?”
Lord Jesus, Who hath ruth for all,
Had pity on the rich man's doom:
“I can do all things great and small,
Yea, give the camel room.
Had pity on the rich man's doom:
“I can do all things great and small,
Yea, give the camel room.
But who is it has hurt thee, say:
Made thee one gaping wound and marred
Out of immortal likeness, yea
As I was, marred and scarred?”
Made thee one gaping wound and marred
Out of immortal likeness, yea
As I was, marred and scarred?”
“And knowest Thou not, Lord Christ, this hour,
Who knowest all has been, shall be,
That the great ship, new Babel's Tower,
Is sunk beneath the sea?
Who knowest all has been, shall be,
That the great ship, new Babel's Tower,
Is sunk beneath the sea?
The iceberg pierced her monstrous side,
As frail as any cockle-shell:
With a great sob she plunged and died.
Oh, Lord, what need of hell?
As frail as any cockle-shell:
With a great sob she plunged and died.
Oh, Lord, what need of hell?
104
The rich men now that went so brave
Drift 'twixt Cape Race and Labrador.
Not such as these Thou diedst to save,
Thou Saviour of the poor.
Drift 'twixt Cape Race and Labrador.
Not such as these Thou diedst to save,
Thou Saviour of the poor.
Not these, not these, Thou diedst to win.
Thy Passion was not spent for them.
Have I not purged me from my sin
Who heard the women scream?”
Thy Passion was not spent for them.
Have I not purged me from my sin
Who heard the women scream?”
“Son,—I was there and saw thee die.
The unstable waters bore Me up,
Whose hollowed hand can hold the sky,
Sun, stars, as in a cup.
The unstable waters bore Me up,
Whose hollowed hand can hold the sky,
Sun, stars, as in a cup.
I, Shepherd of the Ocean, passed,
Gathered My lambs, gathered My sheep;
Saw rich men greatly die at last.
Yea, what they lost they keep.
Gathered My lambs, gathered My sheep;
Saw rich men greatly die at last.
Yea, what they lost they keep.
That was the door I openéd,
Narrow and high in Paradise wall,
That they should die in another's stead
For Mine, the meek and small.
Narrow and high in Paradise wall,
That they should die in another's stead
For Mine, the meek and small.
105
That which they cast away they save.
They paid their debt in full. One breath,
Smiled on the innumerable grave,
Leaped, and found Life, not Death.
They paid their debt in full. One breath,
Smiled on the innumerable grave,
Leaped, and found Life, not Death.
Not through the needle's eye may fare
The camel: by a straiter gate
Naked and scourged, made clean and bare,
The rich man enters late.”
The camel: by a straiter gate
Naked and scourged, made clean and bare,
The rich man enters late.”
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