Classic Poem

ABRAHAM

My father fashioned idols—'twas his craft—
And had ordained that I should learn his art;
So being his apprentice in some sort,
I, though I shame to say it, made gods too.
But finding images our hands had shaped
Lost, or discarded by their worshippers,
And thrown into the sludge of some foul ditch
Whose irrigant waters, trickling o'er the land,
Made their own little share of Accad thrive,
My speech unrobed my thought, direct and keen:
“Who made the maker of these gods?” I asked.
Then paused he in his tasks, impressively
To deprecate my quest, gave such retort
As prejudice of years doth sometimes give
To shafts of youth, whose clear-eyed innocence
Is oft esteemed a child's impertinence.

Yet do I think misgivings sometimes rose
When timidly he probed his hungry heart.
Be that at rest; he left the land of Ur,
Renounced,—no, that may be too strong a word,
How should I know?—ceased from his handicraft,
Making no more resourceless gods for men,
And died in Aram 'mid the hills of Heth.

Then came that voice as soundless as the light:
“Go, get thee southward, leave thy kindred here,
Take tents and camels, raiment, food and wine,
And I will bring thee to a pleasant land,
And make thy race like sand for multitude.”

I saw no phantom shape, no sound I heard,
But life unveiled itself in vivid thought,
Distinct, imperative, and luminous.
I knew that Bel Merodach was no God,
That all the eidolons of Ur were nought,
For now mine eyes had seen Eternity,
The source, the truth, the final urge of all;
The soul of things, the light ineffable
That all the wide star-spaces floods with life;
This, this was God, and there was none beside.

So here I wait beneath the terebinths,
And see my sons innumerable rise,
All pledged and covenanted to one God,
To that all-searching, all-revealing Word,
Unseen, immutable, eternal, true,
To whose high purpose all the years shall bend.

If there be others in the latter days
Shall give to God some dear, familiar name,
To show Him holy or inscrutable,
To prove Him wise, almighty or most just,
Yet would I have those who shall hold my faith,
Who therefore are my sons, remember this,
The name that Abram chose for God was “Friend.”