Morning, evening, noon and night,
“Praise God!;” sang Theocrite.
******
Then to his poor trade he turned,
Whereby the daily meal was earned.
******
Hard he laboured, long and well;
O’er his work the boy’s curls fell.
******
But ever, at each period,
He stopped and sang, “Praise God!”
******
Then back again his curls he threw,
And cheerful turned to work anew.
******
Said Blaise, the listening monk, “Well done;
I doubt not thou art heard, my son:”
******
As well as if thy voice to-day
Were praising God, the Pope’s great way.
******
This Easter Day, the Pope at Rome
Praises God from Peter’s dome.”
******
Said Theocrite, “Would God that I
Might praise him, that great way, and die!”
******
Night passed, day shone,
And Theocrite was gone.
******
With God a day endures alway,
A thousand years are but a day.
******
God said in heaven, “Nor day nor night
Now brings the voice of my delight.”
******
Then Gabriel, like a rainbow’s birth,
Spread his wings and sank to earth;
******
Entered, in flesh, the empty cell,
Lived there, and played the craftsman well;
******
And morning, evening, noon and night,
Praised God in place of Theocrite.
******
And from a boy, to youth he grew:
The man put off the stripling’s hue:
******
The man matured and fell away
Into the season of decay:
******
And ever o’er the trade he bent,
And ever lived on earth content.
******
(He did God’s will; to him, all one
If on the earth or in the sun.)
******
God said, “A praise is in mine ear;
There is no doubt in it, no fear:”
******
“So sing old worlds, and so
New worlds that from my footstool go.”
******
“Clearer loves sound other ways:
I miss my little human praise.”
******
Then forth sprang Gabriel’s wings, off fell
The flesh disguise, remained the cell.
******
‘Twas Easter Day: he flew to Rome,
And paused above Saint Peter’s dome.
******
In the tiring-room close by
The great outer gallery,
******
With his holy vestments dight,
Stood the new Pope, Theocrite:
******
And all his past career
Came back upon him clear,
******
Since when, a boy, he plied his trade,
Till on his life the sickness weighed;
******
And in his cell, when death drew near,
An angel in a dream brought cheer:
******
And rising from the sickness drear
He grew a priest, and now stood here.
******
To the East with praise he turned,
And on his sight the angel burned.
******
“I bore thee from thy craftsman’s cell
And set thee here; I did not well.”
******
“Vainly I left my angel-sphere,
Vain was thy dream of many a year.”
******
“Thy voice’s praise seemed weak; it dropped-
Creation’s chorus stopped!”
******
“Go back and praise again
The early way, while I remain.”
******
“With that weak voice of our disdain,
Take up creation’s pausing strain.”
******
“Back to the cell and poor employ:
Resume the craftsman and the boy!”
******
Theocrite grew old at home;
A new Pope dwelt in Peter’s dome.
******
One vanished as the other died:
They sought God side by side.
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Love Makes The World Go Round
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