Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
America: Vols. XXV–XXIX. 1876–79.
Calef in Boston
By John Greenleaf Whittier (18071892)I
Two men met in Boston town,
One a tradesman frank and bold,
One a preacher of renown.
“Poisoner of the wells of truth!
Satan’s hireling, thou hast sown
With his tares the heart of youth!”
“God be judge ’twixt thou and I;
All thou knowest of truth hath been
Unto men like thee a lie.
Were the truths of long ago;
Let the dead boughs fall away,
Fresher shall the living grow.
In this faith I rest secure;
Evil can but serve the right,
Over all shall love endure.
I have traced the cunning wires;
Come what will, I needs must say,
God is true, and ye are liars.”
Error fears its lightest tones;
So the priest cried, “Sadducee!”
And the people took up stones.
Side by side the twain now lie,—
One with humble grassy mound,
One with marbles pale and high.
Which that tradesman scattered then,
And the preacher’s spectral creed
Chills no more the blood of men.
Perfect love which casts out fear,
While the other’s joys atone
For the wrong he suffered here.