Do you know the pool in the Dead Man's field
At the top of the hill right over the wood?
It was there that I who had sinned was healed —
The Lord is good.

I am only a simple labouring man,
I was wild in my day, I wasted my youth,
But a preacher came in a caravan,
He spoke God's truth.

And I turned to the Lord as a friend to a friend;
It is forty years since I made my vow,
He has followed me on to the daylight's end,
He is with me now.

Our minister says, I need have no shame
Of telling how spirit can body renew,
How the soul is more than this mortal frame
Of flesh and thew.

I took to ditching — was never a shirk —
But the cold got into my marrow bones,
The pains grew bad, then I went to the work
Of breaking stones.

I hammered away and the square heap grew,
But hope grew less, and at every stroke
A piece right out of my body flew —
My heart was broke.

But I limped to my task and struggled on,
And then, for I felt I was not worth pay,
I left the job, my strength it was done;
She toiled away.

Slaved for us both, but the bread grew hard,
On Sunday never a butter pat,
And butter is any day better than lard!
She was fond of the cat, —

But we parted with her, for milk was dear,
And the dog I had loved as a child of my own,
He lies at the root of the rose tree there,
For " no meat! no bone!"

Then the Hall folks went, I was growing weak,
We heard the bell at the Union chime,
I saw the tear on my old wife's cheek,
It was workhouse time.

And the doctor came and he shook his head,
He brought another who thumped and stared,
And all the words that that other said
Were — " Be prepared. "

I laughed in his face! Prepared to die?
For forty years I have lived and striven
To meet my God continually
On earth, in heaven.

And I think that as surely here on earth
As up in heaven He sends His grace
To the souls who are ready through pain or mirth
To see His face.

But, however, I lay in pain on my bed,
And my wife she moaned in her sleep all night,
And the Bible bits came into my head
As clear as light.

I remembered how Jesus cured the blind,
And healed the halt and maimed with a word;
Then somehow the woman came to mind
Who besought the Lord

And took the place of a dog beneath
The table, and asked for a crumb as dole,
And heard the blessing, " Great is thy faith,
Thy child is whole. "

Then I minded the great man there with his Lord —
In the Book of Kings, it is plain to be seen —
He was angry, but went to the Jordan's ford,
Washed and was clean;

Dipped seven times, he did, in the flood
And his flesh came soft as the flesh of a child,
And I thought of the pool on the hill o'er the wood
And I fairly smiled.

Then a voice said, " Great is thy faith and go,
Wash seven times in the Dead Man's pool! "
Another, the Devil's voice, cried, " No!
Lie still, poor fool! "

And never a word to my wife I said,
But at dawn when the valley was wrapped in grey
I crept on my knees to the door from my bed
And crawled away.

Crawled and prayed to God in my pain,
Grant me the pool on the moor to win!
And a voice said mocking, " Thy faith is vain,
Great was thy sin. "

And the way was long and the hill was steep,
And the sin of my youth was a heavy weight,
And home that day I was forced to creep
Disconsolate.

A friend came to me, the carpenter's son,
He brought me crutches — I spoke no word,
But I felt the good deed that the lad had done
Was meant by the Lord.

And up next morn and away to the spring;
In the power of prayer, I stumbled slow,
How the lark in the heaven for joy did sing!
How the sun did glow!

I reached the pool, though the hill was hard
I felt God's presence was at my side,
I cast myself on the silent sward
And prayed and cried:

" Oh, Lord of pity for men who are poor,
And men who in pain for their bread must strive,
Bless Thou this Dead Man's pool on the moor
To make alive. "

Knelt on my handkerchief there on the soil —
Knelt and prayed till I felt the beads
Drop from my brow, for prayer is toil
When a man's soul needs.

But the pool on the moor had little of grace,
The wild birds verily passed it by,
It lay as white as a dead man's face
Beneath the sky.

No lilies bloomed and no marish-bean
Stood out in its feathery loveliness,
No cinque-foils glittered, nor sparkled green
The water-cress.

But I bethought me of him who was loth
To change his Damascus rivers clear
For the Jordan's yellow tide, and wroth
Still turned to hear.

And well I knew it was God, my Guide,
Who led me on to that lonely pool,
Though the Voice in muffled mockery cried,
" Believe not, Fool! "

Then I doffed my clothes and I said the grace,
" Father and Son and the Holy Ghost " ;
I minded the man in the leper's case,
Lord of the host.

He dipped seven times and I too dipped seven;
He in the valley, I on the hill —
And I felt new wonderful strength was given
By God's good will.

He dipped seven times in the Jordan's flood
And his flesh like a child's flesh came again,
And there in the pool on the hill o'er the wood
I left my pain.

And the sun shone fairer, the flowers more sweet,
New melody thrilled in the blue above,
For I stood once more like a man on my feet
To labour and love.

I sang as the lark sang, joy had come,
And health and hope, each step that I trod
On earth seemed heaven, and heaven seemed home.
I praised my God.

Ah, still the two Voices are in debate
By the live man's spring and the dead's man's pool —
One cries, " Be whole, for thy faith is great! "
The other, " Believe not, Fool! "