W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.
The Good Samaritan
Richard Crashaw (G.) (c. 16131649)A
He was crushed like autumn leaves:
He was beaten like the sheaves
Upon the threshing-floor.
In the shadowless heat of day,
Bleeding, stripped and bound he lay,
And seemed to breathe no more.
On his way to Jericho,
Came a priest, serene and slow,
His journey just begun.
Glittered on his harness’ hem;
Behind him gleamed Jerusalem,
In the unclouded sun.
And his calm and holy eyes
Looked above earth’s vanities,
And gazed upon the sky.
But, with saintly looks of pride,
Passed by on the other side,
And left him there to die.
One of the elected race,
The chosen ministers of grace,
Who bore the ark of God.
Exemplar of humanity,
Likewise passed the sufferer by,
Even as the dust he trod.
A despised, rejected man,
Outlawed by the Jewish ban
As one in bonds to sin.
Bound his wounds, and with all speed
Set him on his own good steed,
And brought him to the inn.
Thinkest thou this man will hear,
“Wherefore didst thou interfere
With what concerned not thee?”
“Whatsoever thou hast done
To this poor and suffering one,
That hast thou done to me!”