The Disciple Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: A BCBC DEFE CBCB GHGH IJKJ LMLM NONO AMAM PNPN MMMM QRQR STST A UVUW XOXO YMYM MMMM ZBZB DA2FA2 ZB2ZB2 AC2AC2 OC2OC2 A TD2TD2 ME2ME2 B2F2B2F2 E2 G2OG2O PDPD ZMZM MC2MC2 ZG2ZG2 H2C2H2C2 MMMM G2OG2O P E2ME2M ZC2ZC2 E2ME2M MI2MI2 E2 ZE2ZE2 C2MC2M MJ2MJ2 ZE2ZE2 E2 MH2MH2 MZMZ K2MK2M PZPZ K2ZK2Z E2ME2M C2C2C2C2 E2 F2E2F2E2 L2ML2M C2PC2P E2ME2M M2MN2M F2MF2M MF2MF2 F2 MFMF MMMM F2MF2M J2MJ2M O2J2O2J2 F2 F2ZF2Z F2MF2M ML2ML2 MOMO F2P2F2P2 E2F2E2F2 Q2F2Q2F2 R2F2R2F2 F2 S2FS2D MMMM F2T2F2T2 U2MU2M MF2MF2 O2F2O2F2 DV2DV2 MW2MW2 MF2MF2 MZMZ F2YF2Y F2MF2M F2 P2F2P2F2 DJ2DJ2 ZYZY E2E2E2E2 MF2MF2 F2 F2F2F2F2 MX2MX2 E2Y2E2I2 DDDD F2Z2F2Z2 F2MF2M E2 A3F2A3F2 F2MF2M DZDZ XB3XB3 E2 F2F2F2F2 F2MF2M DMDM E2 DB3DB3 F2F2F2F2 F2MF2M MB3MB3 C3H2C3H2 ZF2ZF2 E2 ME2ME2 F2E2F2E2 A3MA3M F2MF2M MF2MF2 F2F2F2F2 E2 MMMM ZMZM MMMM M2F2M2F2 A3MA3M F2 E2ZE2Z DMDM E2ZE2Z F2 MDMD F2ZF2Z MMMM I2F2I2F2 E2ME2M F2 XF2XF2 MM2MM2 ZZZZ F2ZF2Z F2 MF2MF2 MMMM F2F2F2F2 MZMZ ZZZZ P2MP2M F2F2F2F2 XMXM F2 ME2ME2 DD3DD3 ZF2ZF2 E3F2E3F2 F2ZF2Z F2ZF2Z N2B3I2B3 F2DF2D E2 F2O2F2O2 F2MF2M MDMD E2 MMMM MMMM F2F3F2F3 F2ZF2Z X2E2X2E2 E2 O2MO2M W2F2W2F2 F2G3F2G3 E2F2E2F2 MMMM E2 DMDM MMMM DF2DF2 F2YF2Y E2 F2D3F2D3 H3DH3D DMDM F2H2F2H2 F2MF2M MZMZ F2I3F2I3 MMMM F2 F2MF2M ZZZZ F2I2F2I2 ZJ2ZJ3 F2F2F2F2 I2F2I2F2 MF2MF2 F2 S2G2S2G2 ZMZM MDMD K3MK3M X2MA3M MDMD ZF2ZF2 F2 F2L3F2L3 E2ME2M F2 ZE2ZE2 F2F2F2F2 M3F2M3F2 E2E2E2E2 G3MG3M MF2MF2 E2N3E2N3 DMDM E2F2E2F2 MDMD MF2MF2 F2DF2D ZMZM MYMY MF2MF2

I	A
	-
The times are changed and gone the day	B
When the high heavenly land	C
Though unbeheld quite near them lay	B
And men could understand	C
	-
The dead yet find it who when here	D
Did love it more than this	E
They enter in are filled with cheer	F
And pain expires in bliss	E
	-
All glorious gleams the blessed land	C
O God forgive I pray	B
The heart thou holdest in thy hand	C
Loves more this sunny day	B
	-
I see the hundred thousand wait	G
Around the radiant throne	H
Ah what a dreary gilded state	G
What crowds of beings lone	H
	-
I do not care for singing psalms	I
I tire of good men's talk	J
To me there is no joy in palms	K
Or white robed solemn walk	J
	-
I love to hear the wild winds meet	L
The wild old winds at night	M
To watch the cold stars flash and beat	L
The feathery snow alight	M
	-
I love all tales of valiant men	N
Of women good and fair	O
If I were rich and strong ah then	N
I would do something rare	O
	-
But for thy temple in the sky	A
Its pillars strong and white	M
I cannot love it though I try	A
And long with all my might	M
	-
Sometimes a joy lays hold on me	P
And I am speechless then	N
Almost a martyr I could be	P
To join the holy men	N
	-
	-
Straightway my heart is like a clod	M
My spirit wrapt in doubt	M
A pillar in the house of God	M
And never more go out	M
	-
No more the sunny breezy morn	Q
All gone the glowing noon	R
No more the silent heath forlorn	Q
The wan faced waning moon	R
	-
My God this heart will never burn	S
Must never taste thy joy	T
Even Jesus' face is calm and stern	S
I am a hapless boy	T
	-
	-
	-
	-
II	A
	-
I read good books My heart despairs	U
In vain I try to dress	V
My soul in feelings like to theirs	U
These men of holiness	W
	-
My thoughts like doves abroad I fling	X
Into a country fair	O
Wind baffled back with tired wing	X
They to my ark repair	O
	-
Or comes a sympathetic thrill	Y
With long departed saint	M
A feeble dawn without my will	Y
Of feelings old and quaint	M
	-
As of a church's holy night	M
With low browed chapels round	M
Where common sunshine dares not light	M
On the too sacred ground	M
	-
One glance at sunny fields of grain	Z
One shout of child at play	B
A merry melody drives amain	Z
The one toned chant away	B
	-
My spirit will not enter here	D
To haunt the holy gloom	A2
I gaze into a mirror mere	F
A mirror not a room	A2
	-
And as a bird against the pane	Z
Will strike deceived sore	B2
I think to enter but remain	Z
Outside the closed door	B2
	-
Oh it will call for many a sigh	A
If it be what it claims	C2
This book so unlike earth and sky	A
Unlike man's hopes and aims	C2
	-
To me a desert parched and bare	O
In which a spirit broods	C2
Whose wisdom I would gladly share	O
At cost of many goods	C2
	-
	-
	-
III	A
	-
O hear me God O give me joy	T
Such as thy chosen feel	D2
Have pity on a wretched boy	T
My heart is hard as steel	D2
	-
I have no care for what is good	M
Thyself I do not love	E2
I relish not this Bible food	M
My heaven is not above	E2
	-
Thou wilt not hear I come no more	B2
Thou heedest not my woe	F2
With sighs and tears my heart is sore	B2
Thou comest not I go	F2
	-
	-
	-
	-
IV	E2
	-
Once more I kneel The earth is dark	G2
And darker yet the air	O
If light there be 'tis but a spark	G2
Amid a world's despair	O
	-
One hopeless hope there yet may be	P
A God somewhere to hear	D
The God to whom I bend my knee	P
A God with open ear	D
	-
I know that men laugh still to scorn	Z
The grief that is my lot	M
Such wounds they say are hardly borne	Z
But easily forgot	M
	-
What matter that my sorrows rest	M
On ills which men despise	C2
More hopeless heaves my aching breast	M
Than when a prophet sighs	C2
	-
AEons of griefs have come and gone	Z
My grief is yet my mark	G2
The sun sets every night yet none	Z
Sees therefore in the dark	G2
	-
There's love enough upon the earth	H2
And beauty too they say	C2
There may be plenty may be dearth	H2
I care not any way	C2
	-
The world hath melted from my sight	M
No grace in life is left	M
I cry to thee with all my might	M
Because I am bereft	M
	-
In vain I cry The earth is dark	G2
And darker yet the air	O
Of light there trembles now no spark	G2
In my lost soul's despair	O
	-
	-
	-
V	P
	-
I sit and gaze from window high	E2
Down on the noisy street	M
No part in this great coil have I	E2
No fate to go and meet	M
	-
My books unopened long have lain	Z
In class I am all astray	C2
The questions growing in my brain	Z
Demand and have their way	C2
	-
Knowledge is power the people cry	E2
Grave men the lure repeat	M
After some rarer thing I sigh	E2
That makes the pulses beat	M
	-
Old truths new facts they preach aloud	M
Their tones like wisdom fall	I2
One sunbeam glancing on a cloud	M
Hints things beyond them all	I2
	-
	-
	-
	-
VI	E2
	-
But something is not right within	Z
High hopes are far gone by	E2
Was it a bootless aim to win	Z
Sight of a loftier sky	E2
	-
They preach men should not faint but pray	C2
And seek until they find	M
But God is very far away	C2
Nor is his countenance kind	M
	-
Yet every night my father prayed	M
Withdrawing from the throng	J2
Some answer must have come that made	M
His heart so high and strong	J2
	-
Once more I'll seek the God of men	Z
Redeeming childhood's vow	E2
I failed with bitter weeping then	Z
And fail cold hearted now	E2
	-
	-
VII	E2
	-
Why search for God A man I tread	M
This old life bearing earth	H2
High thoughts awake and lift my head	M
In me they have their birth	H2
	-
The preacher says a Christian must	M
Do all the good he can	Z
I must be noble true and just	M
Because I am a man	Z
	-
They say a man must watch and keep	K2
Lamp burning garments white	M
Else he shall sit without and weep	K2
When Christ comes home at night	M
	-
A man must hold his honour free	P
His conscience must not stain	Z
Or soil I say the dignity	P
Of heart and blood and brain	Z
	-
Yes I say well said words are cheap	K2
For action man was born	Z
What praise will my one talent reap	K2
What grapes are on my thorn	Z
	-
Have high words kept me pure enough	E2
In evil have I no part	M
Hath not my bosom perilous stuff	E2
That weighs upon the heart	M
	-
I am not that which I do praise	C2
I do not that I say	C2
I sit a talker in the ways	C2
A dreamer in the day	C2
	-
	-
VIII	E2
	-
The preacher's words are true I know	F2
That man may lose his life	E2
That every man must downward go	F2
Without the upward strife	E2
	-
'Twere well my soul should cease to roam	L2
Should seek and have and hold	M
It may be there is yet a home	L2
In that religion old	M
	-
Again I kneel again I pray	C2
Wilt thou be God to me	P
Wilt thou give ear to what I say	C2
And lift me up to thee	P
	-
Lord is it true Oh vision high	E2
The clouds of heaven dispart	M
An opening depth of loving sky	E2
Looks down into my heart	M
	-
There is a home wherein to dwell	M2
The very heart of light	M
Thyself my sun immutable	N2
My moon and stars all night	M
	-
I thank thee Lord It must be so	F2
Its beauty is so good	M
Up in my heart thou mad'st it go	F2
And I have understood	M
	-
The clouds return The common day	M
Falls on me like a No	F2
But I have seen what might be may	M
And with a hope I go	F2
	-
	-
IX	F2
	-
I am a stranger in the land	M
It gives no welcome dear	F
Its lilies bloom not for my hand	M
Its roses for my cheer	F
	-
The sunshine used to make me glad	M
But now it knows me not	M
This weight of brightness makes me sad	M
It isolates a blot	M
	-
I am forgotten by the hills	F2
And by the river's play	M
No look of recognition thrills	F2
The features of the day	M
	-
Then only am I moved to song	J2
When down the darkening street	M
While vanishes the scattered throng	J2
The driving rain I meet	M
	-
The rain pours down My thoughts awake	O2
Like flowers that languished long	J2
From bare cold hills the night winds break	O2
From me the unwonted song	J2
	-
	-
X	F2
	-
I read the Bible with my eyes	F2
But hardly with my brain	Z
Should this the meaning recognize	F2
My heart yet reads in vain	Z
	-
These words of promise and of woe	F2
Seem but a tinkling sound	M
As through an ancient tomb I go	F2
With dust filled urns around	M
	-
Or as a sadly searching child	M
Afar from love and home	L2
Sits in an ancient chamber piled	M
With scroll and musty tome	L2
	-
So I in these epistles old	M
From men of heavenly care	O
Find all the thoughts of other mould	M
Than I can love or share	O
	-
No sympathy with mine they show	F2
Their world is not the same	P2
They move me not with joy or woe	F2
They touch me not with blame	P2
	-
I hear no word that calls my life	E2
Or owns my struggling powers	F2
Those ancient ages had their strife	E2
But not a strife like ours	F2
	-
Oh not like men they move and speak	Q2
Those pictures in old panes	F2
They alter not their aspect meek	Q2
For all the winds and rains	F2
	-
Their thoughts are full of figures strange	R2
Of Jewish forms and rites	F2
A world of air and sea I range	R2
Of mornings and of nights	F2
	-
	-
	-
XI	F2
	-
I turn me to the gospel tale	S2
My hope is faint with fear	F
That hungriest search will not avail	S2
To find a refuge here	D
	-
A misty wind blows bare and rude	M
From dead seas of the past	M
And through the clouds that halt and brood	M
Dim dawns a shape at last	M
	-
A sad worn man who bows his face	F2
And treads a frightful path	T2
To save an abject hopeless race	F2
From an eternal wrath	T2
	-
Kind words he speaks but all the time	U2
As from a formless height	M
To which no human foot can climb	U2
Half swathed in ancient night	M
	-
Nay sometimes and to gentle heart	M
Unkind words from him go	F2
Surely it is no saviour's part	M
To speak to women so	F2
	-
Much rather would I refuge take	O2
With Mary dear to me	F2
To whom that rough hard speech he spake	O2
What have I to do with thee	F2
	-
Surely I know men tenderer	D
Women of larger soul	V2
Who need no prayer their hearts to stir	D
Who always would make whole	V2
	-
Oftenest he looks a weary saint	M
Embalmed in pallid gleam	W2
Listless and sad without complaint	M
Like dead man in a dream	W2
	-
And at the best he is uplift	M
A spectacle a show	F2
The worth of such an outworn gift	M
I know too much to know	F2
	-
How find the love to pay my debt	M
He leads me from the sun	Z
Yet it is hard men should forget	M
A good deed ever done	Z
	-
Forget that he to foil a curse	F2
Did on that altar hill	Y
Sun of a sunless universe	F2
Hang dying patient still	Y
	-
But what is He whose pardon slow	F2
At so much blood is priced	M
If such thou art O Jove I go	F2
To the Promethean Christ	M
	-
	-
XII	F2
	-
A word within says I am to blame	P2
And therefore must confess	F2
Must call my doing by its name	P2
And so make evil less	F2
	-
I could not his false triumph bear	D
For he was first in wrong	J2
Thy own ill doings are thy care	D
His to himself belong	J2
	-
To do it right my heart should own	Z
Some sorrow for the ill	Y
Plain honest words will half atone	Z
And they are in thy will	Y
	-
The struggle comes Evil or I	E2
Must gain the victory now	E2
I am unmoved and yet would try	E2
O God to thee I bow	E2
	-
The skies are brass there falls no aid	M
No wind of help will blow	F2
But I bethink me I am made	M
A man I rise and go	F2
	-
	-
XIII	F2
	-
To Christ I needs must come they say	F2
Who went to death for me	F2
I turn aside I come I pray	F2
My unknown God to thee	F2
	-
He is afar the story old	M
Is blotted worn and dim	X2
With thee O God I can be bold	M
I cannot pray to him	X2
	-
Pray At the word a cloudy grief	E2
Around me folds its pall	Y2
Nothing I have to call belief	E2
How can I pray at all	I2
	-
I know not if a God be there	D
To heed my crying sore	D
If in the great world anywhere	D
An ear keeps open door	D
	-
An unborn faith I will not nurse	F2
Pursue an endless task	Z2
Loud out into its universe	F2
My soul shall call and ask	Z2
	-
Is there no God earth sky and sea	F2
Are but a chaos wild	M
Is there a God I know that he	F2
Must hear his calling child	M
	-
	-
XIV	E2
	-
I kneel But all my soul is dumb	A3
With hopeless misery	F2
Is he a friend who will not come	A3
Whose face I must not see	F2
	-
I do not think of broken laws	F2
Of judge's damning word	M
My heart is all one ache because	F2
I call and am not heard	M
	-
A cry where there is none to hear	D
Doubles the lonely pain	Z
Returns in silence on the ear	D
In torture on the brain	Z
	-
No look of love a smile can bring	X
No kiss wile back the breath	B3
To cold lips I no answer wring	X
From this great face of death	B3
	-
	-
XV	E2
	-
Yet sometimes when the agony	F2
Dies of its own excess	F2
A dew like calm descends on me	F2
A shadow of tenderness	F2
	-
A sense of bounty and of grace	F2
A cool air in my breast	M
As if my soul were yet a place	F2
Where peace might one day rest	M
	-
God God I say and cry no more	D
But rise and think to stand	M
Unwearied at the closed door	D
Till comes the opening hand	M
	-
	-
XVI	E2
	-
But is it God Once more the fear	D
Of No God loads my breath	B3
Amid a sunless atmosphere	D
I fight again with death	B3
	-
Such rest may be like that which lulls	F2
The man who fainting lies	F2
His bloodless brain his spirit dulls	F2
Draws darkness o'er his eyes	F2
	-
But even such sleep my heart responds	F2
May be the ancient rest	M
Rising released from bodily bonds	F2
And flowing unreprest	M
	-
The o'ertasked will falls down aghast	M
In individual death	B3
God puts aside the severed past	M
Breathes in a primal breath	B3
	-
For how should torture breed a calm	C3
Can death to life give birth	H2
No labour can create the balm	C3
That soothes the sleeping earth	H2
	-
I yet will hope the very One	Z
Whose love is life in me	F2
Did when my strength was overdone	Z
Inspire serenity	F2
	-
XVII	E2
	-
When the hot sun's too urgent might	M
Hath shrunk the tender leaf	E2
Water comes sliding down the night	M
And makes its sorrow brief	E2
	-
When poet's heart is in eclipse	F2
A glance from childhood's eye	E2
A smile from passing maiden's lips	F2
Will clear a glowing sky	E2
	-
Might not from God such influence come	A3
A dying hope to lift	M
Might he not send to poor heart some	A3
Unmediated gift	M
	-
My child lies moaning lost in dreams	F2
Abandoned sore dismayed	M
Her fancy's world with horror teems	F2
Her soul is much afraid	M
	-
I lay my hand upon her breast	M
Her moaning dies away	F2
She does not wake but lost in rest	M
Sleeps on into the day	F2
	-
And when my heart with soft release	F2
Grows calm as summer sea	F2
Shall I not hope the God of peace	F2
Hath laid his hand on me	F2
	-
	-
XVIII	E2
	-
But why from thought should fresh doubt start	M
An ever lengthening cord	M
Might he not make my troubled heart	M
Right sure it was the Lord	M
	-
God will not let a smaller boon	Z
Hinder the coming best	M
A granted sign might all too soon	Z
Rejoice thee into rest	M
	-
Yet could not any sign though grand	M
As hosts of fire about	M
Though lovely as a sunset land	M
Secure thy soul from doubt	M
	-
A smile from one thou lovedst well	M2
Gladdened thee all the day	F2
The doubt which all day far did dwell	M2
Came home with twilight gray	F2
	-
For doubt will come will ever come	A3
Though signs be perfect good	M
Till heart to heart strike doubting dumb	A3
And both are understood	M
	-
	-
XIX	F2
	-
I shall behold him one day nigh	E2
Assailed with glory keen	Z
My eyes will open wide and I	E2
Shall see as I am seen	Z
	-
Of nothing can my heart be sure	D
Except the highest best	M
When God I see with vision pure	D
That sight will be my rest	M
	-
Forward I look with longing eye	E2
And still my hope renew	Z
Backward and think that from the sky	E2
Did come that falling dew	Z
	-
	-
XX	F2
	-
But if a vision should unfold	M
That I might banish fear	D
That I the chosen might be bold	M
And walk with upright cheer	D
	-
My heart would cry But shares my race	F2
In this great love of thine	Z
I pray put me not in good case	F2
Where others lack and pine	Z
	-
Nor claim I thus a loving heart	M
That for itself is mute	M
In such love I desire no part	M
As reaches not my root	M
	-
But if my brothers thou dost call	I2
As children to thy knee	F2
Thou givest me my being's all	I2
Thou sayest child to me	F2
	-
If thou to me alone shouldst give	E2
My heart were all beguiled	M
It would not be because I live	E2
And am my Father's child	M
	-
	-
XXI	F2
	-
As little comfort would it bring	X
Amid a throng to pass	F2
To stand with thousands worshipping	X
Upon the sea of glass	F2
	-
To know that of a sinful world	M
I one was saved as well	M2
My roll of ill with theirs upfurled	M
And cast in deepest hell	M2
	-
That God looked bounteously on one	Z
Because on many men	Z
As shone Judea's earthly sun	Z
On all the healed ten	Z
	-
No thou must be a God to me	F2
As if but me were none	Z
I such a perfect child to thee	F2
As if thou hadst but one	Z
	-
	-
XXII	F2
	-
Oh then my Father hast thou not	M
A blessing just for me	F2
Shall I be barely not forgot	M
Never come home to thee	F2
	-
Hast thou no care for this one child	M
This thinking living need	M
Or is thy countenance only mild	M
Thy heart not love indeed	M
	-
For some eternal joy I pray	F2
To make me strong and free	F2
Yea such a friend I need alway	F2
As thou alone canst be	F2
	-
Is not creative infinitude	M
Able in every man	Z
To turn itself to every mood	M
Since God man's life began	Z
	-
Art thou not each man's God his own	Z
With secret words between	Z
As thou and he lived all alone	Z
Insphered in silence keen	Z
	-
Ah God my heart is not the same	P2
As any heart beside	M
My pain is different and my blame	P2
My pity and my pride	M
	-
My history thou know'st my thoughts	F2
Different from other men's	F2
Thou knowest all the sheep and goats	F2
That mingle in my pens	F2
	-
Thou knowest I a love might bring	X
By none beside me due	M
One praiseful song at least might sing	X
Which could not but be new	M
	-
	-
XXIII	F2
	-
Nor seek I thus to stand apart	M
In aught my kind above	E2
My neighbour ah my troubled heart	M
Must rest ere thee it love	E2
	-
If God love not I have no care	D
No power to love no hope	D3
What is life here or anywhere	D
Or why with darkness cope	D3
	-
I scorn my own love's every sign	Z
So feeble selfish low	F2
If his love give no pledge that mine	Z
Shall one day perfect grow	F2
	-
But if I knew Thy love even such	E3
As tender and intense	F2
As tested by its human touch	E3
Would satisfy my sense	F2
	-
Of what a father never was	F2
But should be to his son	Z
My heart would leap for joy because	F2
My rescue was begun	Z
	-
Oh then my love by thine set free	F2
Would overflow thy men	Z
In every face my heart would see	F2
God shining out again	Z
	-
There are who hold high festival	N2
And at the board crown Death	B3
I am too weak to live at all	I2
Except I breathe thy breath	B3
	-
Show me a love that nothing bates	F2
Absolute self severe	D
Even at Gehenna's prayerless gates	F2
I should not taint with fear	D
	-
	-
XXIV	E2
	-
I cannot brook that men should say	F2
Nor this for gospel take	O2
That thou wilt hear me if I pray	F2
Asking for Jesus' sake	O2
	-
For love to him is not to me	F2
And cannot lift my fate	M
The love is not that is not free	F2
Perfect immediate	M
	-
Love is salvation life without	M
No moment can endure	D
Those sheep alone go in and out	M
Who know thy love is pure	D
	-
	-
XXV	E2
	-
But what if God requires indeed	M
For cause yet unrevealed	M
Assent to one fixed form of creed	M
Such as I cannot yield	M
	-
Has God made for Christ's sake a test	M
To take or leave the crust	M
That only he may have the best	M
Who licks the serpent dust	M
	-
No no the words I will not say	F2
With the responding folk	F3
I at his feet a heart would lay	F2
Not shoulders for a yoke	F3
	-
He were no lord of righteousness	F2
Who subjects such would gain	Z
As yield their birthright for a mess	F2
Of liberty from pain	Z
	-
And wilt thou bargain then with Him	X2
The priest makes answer high	E2
'Tis thou priest makest the sky dim	X2
My hope is in the sky	E2
	-
	-
XXVI	E2
	-
But is my will alive awake	O2
The one God will not heed	M
If in my lips or hands I take	O2
A half word or half deed	M
	-
Hour after hour I sit and dream	W2
Amazed in outwardness	F2
The powers of things that only seem	W2
The things that are oppress	F2
	-
Till in my soul some discord sounds	F2
Till sinks some yawning lack	G3
Then turn I from life's rippling rounds	F2
And unto thee come back	G3
	-
Thou seest how poor a thing am I	E2
Yet hear whate'er I be	F2
Despairing of my will I cry	E2
Be God enough to me	F2
	-
My spirit low irresolute	M
I cast before thy feet	M
And wait while even prayer is mute	M
For what thou judgest meet	M
	-
	-
XXVII	E2
	-
My safety lies not any hour	D
In what I generate	M
But in the living healing power	D
Of that which doth create	M
	-
If he is God to the incomplete	M
Fulfilling lack and need	M
Then I may cast before his feet	M
A half word or half deed	M
	-
I bring Lord to thy altar stair	D
To thee love glorious	F2
My very lack of will and prayer	D
And cry Thou seest me thus	F2
	-
From some old well of life they flow	F2
The words my being fill	Y
Of me that man the truth shall know	F2
Who wills the Father's will	Y
	-
	-
XXVIII	E2
	-
What is his will that I may go	F2
And do it in the hope	D3
That light will rise and spread and grow	F2
As deed enlarges scope	D3
	-
I need not search the sacred book	H3
To find my duty clear	D
Scarce in my bosom need I look	H3
It lies so very near	D
	-
Henceforward I must watch the door	D
Of word and action too	M
There's one thing I must do no more	D
Another I must do	M
	-
Alas these are such little things	F2
No glory in their birth	H2
Doubt from their common aspect springs	F2
If God will count them worth	H2
	-
But here I am not left to choose	F2
My duty is my lot	M
And weighty things will glory lose	F2
If small ones are forgot	M
	-
I am not worthy high things yet	M
I'll humbly do my own	Z
Good care of sheep may so beget	M
A fitness for the throne	Z
	-
Ah fool why dost thou reason thus	F2
Ambition's very fool	I3
Through high and low each glorious	F2
Shines God's all perfect rule	I3
	-
'Tis God I need not rank in good	M
'Tis Life not honour's meed	M
With him to fill my every mood	M
I am content indeed	M
	-
	-
XXIX	F2
	-
Will do shall know I feel the force	F2
The fullness of the word	M
His holy boldness held its course	F2
Claiming divine accord	M
	-
What if as yet I have never seen	Z
The true face of the Man	Z
The named notion may have been	Z
A likeness vague and wan	Z
	-
A thing of such unblended hues	F2
As on his chamber wall	I2
The humble peasant gladly views	F2
And Jesus Christ doth call	I2
	-
The story I did never scan	Z
With vision calm and strong	J2
Have never tried to see the Man	Z
The many words among	J3
	-
Pictures there are that do not please	F2
With any sweet surprise	F2
But gain the heart by slow degrees	F2
Until they feast the eyes	F2
	-
And if I ponder what they call	I2
The gospel of God's grace	F2
Through mists that slowly melt and fall	I2
May dawn a human face	F2
	-
What face Oh heart uplifting thought	M
That face may dawn on me	F2
Which Moses on the mountain sought	M
God would not let him see	F2
	-
	-
XXX	F2
	-
All faint at first as wrapt in veil	S2
Of Sinai's cloudy dark	G2
But dawning as I read the tale	S2
I slow discern and mark	G2
	-
A gracious simple truthful man	Z
Who walks the earth erect	M
Nor stoops his noble head to one	Z
From fear or false respect	M
	-
Who seeks to climb no high estate	M
No low consent secure	D
With high and low serenely great	M
Because his love is pure	D
	-
Oh not alone high o'er our reach	K3
Our joys and griefs beyond	M
To him 'tis joy divine to teach	K3
Where human hearts respond	M
	-
And grief divine it was to him	X2
To see the souls that slept	M
How often O Jerusalem	A3
He said and gazed and wept	M
	-
Love was his very being's root	M
And healing was its flower	D
Love human love its stem and fruit	M
Its gladness and its power	D
	-
Life of high God till then unseen	Z
Undreamt of glorious show	F2
Glad faithful childlike love serene	Z
How poor am I how low	F2
	-
	-
XXXI	F2
	-
As in a living well I gaze	F2
Kneeling upon its brink	L3
What are the very words he says	F2
What did the one man think	L3
	-
I find his heart was all above	E2
Obedience his one thought	M
Reposing in his father's love	E2
His father's will he sought	M
	-
	-
	-
XXXII	F2
	-
Years have passed o'er my broken plan	Z
To picture out a strife	E2
Where ancient Death in horror wan	Z
Faced young and fearing Life	E2
	-
More of the tale I tell not so	F2
But for myself would say	F2
My heart is quiet with what I know	F2
With what I hope is gay	F2
	-
And where I cannot set my faith	M3
Unknowing or unwise	F2
I say If this be what he saith	M3
Here hidden treasure lies	F2
	-
Through years gone by since thus I strove	E2
Thus shadowed out my strife	E2
While at my history I wove	E2
Thou wovest in the life	E2
	-
Through poverty that had no lack	G3
For friends divinely good	M
Through pain that not too long did rack	G3
Through love that understood	M
	-
Through light that taught me what to hold	M
And what to cast away	F2
Through thy forgiveness manifold	M
And things I cannot say	F2
	-
Here thou hast brought me able now	E2
To kiss thy garment's hem	N3
Entirely to thy will to bow	E2
And trust thee even for them	N3
	-
Who in the darkness and the mire	D
Walk with rebellious feet	M
Loose trailing Lo their soiled attire	D
For heavenly floor unmeet	M
	-
Lord Jesus Christ I know not how	E2
With this blue air blue sea	F2
This yellow sand that grassy brow	E2
All isolating me	F2
	-
Thy thoughts to mine themselves impart	M
My thoughts to thine draw near	D
But thou canst fill who mad'st my heart	M
Who gav'st me words must hear	D
	-
Thou mad'st the hand with which I write	M
The eye that watches slow	F2
Through rosy gates that rosy light	M
Across thy threshold go	F2
	-
Those waves that bend in golden spray	F2
As if thy foot they bore	D
I think I know thee Lord to day	F2
Shall know thee evermore	D
	-
I know thy father thine and mine	Z
Thou the great fact hast bared	M
Master the mighty words are thine	Z
Such I had never dared	M
	-
Lord thou hast much to make me yet	M
Thy father's infant still	Y
Thy mind Son in my bosom set	M
That I may grow thy will	Y
	-
My soul with truth clothe all about	M
And I shall question free	F2
The man that feareth Lord to doubt	M
In that fear doubteth thee	F2

George Macdonald

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