W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895.
The Pathways of the Holy Land
Elizabeth Charles (18281896)T
Since Thou wert there;
The busy world through other ways has ranged,
And left these bare.
Of Olivet,
Though rains of two millenniums wear it deep,
Men tread it yet.
Quiet and low;
Before his sheep the shepherd on it treads,
His voice they know.
As once o’er thee;
Peasants go home at evening up that hill
To Bethany.
From height to height
The white roofs of discrowned Jerusalem
Burst on our sight.
Which we tread thus;
Here through Thy triumph on thou passedst, calm,
On to Thy cross.
Of Galilee;
But chiselled in the hillsides evermore
Thy paths we see.
Nor time effaced:
Where Thy feet trod to bless we still may stand;
All can be traced.
Truer than these;
Where’er the poor and tried and suffering are,
Thy steps faith sees.
Thou are not dead!
Our path is onward, till we see Thy face,
And hear Thy tread.
In praise and prayer,
There is Thy presence, there Thy Holy Land,
Thou, Thou art there!