John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.
Religious PoemsWhat the Voice Said
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“Lord!” I cried in sudden ire,
“From Thy right hand, clothed with thunder,
Shake the bolted fire!
With the brute the man is sold;
And the dropping blood of labor
Hardens into gold.
There the battle’s groan of pain;
And, in silence, smooth-faced Mammon
Reaping men like grain.
Thus the earth-born Titans say;
‘God! if Thou art living, hear us!’
Thus the weak ones pray.”
Spake a solemn Voice within;
“Weary of our Lord’s forbearance,
Art thou free from sin?
Canst thou for His thunders call,
Knowing that to guilt’s attraction
Evermore they fall?
In thy heart await their time?
Not thyself, but God’s restraining,
Stays their growth of crime.
O’er the sons of wrong and strife,
Were their strong temptations planted
In thy path of life?
From one fountain, clear and free,
But by widely varying channels
Searching for the sea.
Kissing them with lips still sweet;
One, mad roaring down the mountains,
Stagnates at their feet.
Kneels before his mother’s fire?
In his black tent did the Tartar
Choose his wandering sire?
Human power and human will,
Looking through each soul’s surrounding,
Knows its good or ill.
Make to thee their strong appeal,
Coward wert thou not to utter
What the heart must feel.
When the warm heart bleeds or burns
With its scorn of wrong, or pity
For the wronged, by turns.
Hidden faults and follies known,
Be thou, in rebuking evil,
Conscious of thine own.
To thy lips her trumpet set,
But with harsher blasts shall mingle
Wailings of regret.”
Teacher sent of God, be near,
Whispering through the day’s cool silence,
Let my spirit hear!
Waken a scorn, or hatred move,
Shall a mournful fellow-feeling
Temper all with love.