Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.
William Drummond, of Hawthornden. 15851649232. Saint John Baptist
THE last and greatest Herald of Heaven’s King, | |
Girt with rough skins, hies to the deserts wild, | |
Among that savage brood the woods forth bring, | |
Which he than man more harmless found and mild. | |
His food was locusts, and what young doth spring | 5 |
With honey that from virgin hives distill’d; | |
Parch’d body, hollow eyes, some uncouth thing | |
Made him appear, long since from earth exiled. | |
There burst he forth: ‘All ye, whose hopes rely | |
On God, with me amidst these deserts mourn; | 10 |
Repent, repent, and from old errors turn!’ | |
—Who listen’d to his voice, obey’d his cry? | |
Only the echoes, which he made relent, | |
Rung from their marble caves ‘Repent! Repent!’ |