Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922.
DorcasGeorge MacDonald (18241905)
I
That, mid the gather’d folk,
This gentle Dorcas one day stood,
And heard when Jesus spoke.
Half envious, for his sake:
‘Oh, happy hands,’ she said, ‘that wrought
The honoured thing to make!’
She never can come nigh
To work one service poor for him
For whom she glad would die!
And she has heard indeed!
‘When did we see thee naked, Lord,
And clothed thee in thy need?
As to my brethren ye
Did it—even to the least of such—
Ye did it unto me.’
And Jesus’ poor array’d.
She died—they wept about the room,
And showed the coats she made.