Classic Poem

I, JOHN , who once was called by Him in jest
Boanerges, the thunder's son,
Who lay in tenderness upon His breast—
Now that my days are done,

And a great gathering glory fills my sight,
Would tell my children e'er I go
Of Him I saw with head and hair as white
As white wool—white as snow.

The face before which heaven and earth did flee,
The burnished feet, the eyes of flame,
The seven stars bright with awful mystery,
And the Ineffable Name!

Yet I who saw the four dread horsemen ride,
The vials of the wrath of God,
Beheld a greater thing: the Lamb's pure Bride,
The golden floors she trod.

How Babylon, Babylon was overthrown,
And how Euphrates flowed with blood—
Ah, but His mercy through the wide world sown,
The tree with healing bud!

I heard, among the hosts of Paradise,
The glad new song that never tires,
A Lamb as it had been slain in sacrifice
Enthroned amid the choirs.

After the utmost woes have taken toll,
And ravens plucked the eyes of kings,
God's own strange peace shall come upon the soul
On gentle, dove-like wings.

The Dragon cast into the voidless night,
God's city cometh from above,
Built by the sword of Michael and his might,
But founded in God's love.