Page:Poet Lore, volume 34, 1923.djvu/315

 If one of you has wronged a friend, If he has slain some feeble foe, And by that act has lost his soul, Or shut his door to homeless men, Or held back food from hungry lips, Or left unbound a sufferer’s wounds, Or if his faith in God has failed, These all are sins and grievous deeds; Without repentance ye are lost. Repent while yet it is to-day! While time remains, my sons, repent! Repent ere yet your souls are called By him who thunders in the sky. Repent! your life is brief, repent! Repent! When next the morning dawns Some here will walk upon the road That all some daymustday must [sic] journey on. Repent!—" The old man ceased. The words died on his lips unspoken, And tear-drops trembled on his beard, Like pearls that glisten in the sun. Perchance he thought of days gone by, And wounds in his own heart revived The while he healed the wounds in theirs.

Good shepherd of his flock! The words He spoke were words each day he lived. Good shepherd! What he laid on them, He also laid upon himself. Touched by his tender words the troop Stood silently before their priest, And one might think them harmless lambs, Who late were raging lions.

Such miracle his words had wrought. But what is this that now appears Before their eyes in worship fixed, That all at once a hundred hands Are grasping at a hundred swords? Strange happening! A hundred hearts That sought the sky; a hundred wills