Classic Poem

" NOW, lords, it is my will and her command,
Since you don't always have your book with you,
And 'tis, besides, most wearisome to write,
That each of you attend this sermon well
And learn it all by heart — yes, word for word,
As I have spoken it — so when you come
To any place — to castle, village, town,
Or burg — in summer or in winter time,
You may recite it to those not here now.
'Tis well to know by heart the lore that comes
From a good school — and better to repeat,
For one may thus attain to high esteem.
My counselings are wise — one hundred times
Than sapphires, rubies, other precious stones
More valuable. My lady has great need
Of preachers those who disobey her rules
To chasten so that they may thenceforth keep
Her laws and spread her precepts through the earth.
" If you thus preach, you never will be stopped,
According to my judgment and the facts,
From entering the paradisiacal fields
Wherein the offspring of a virgin lamb,
Arrayed in whitest wool, conducts with Him
His sheep, who revel o'er the pastures green.
He's followed by no mighty company
But fitting few, along the narrow paths
Bordered with blooming flowers and fresh herbs
So little trodden that they're not bent down
Beasts debonair and free — the lambkins white —
Nibble about the new-spring herbage green
And feed upon the grass along the way.
Know well, their pasture is so marvelous
That all the pretty flowers growing there,
So virginal and tender in the spring,
Retain their youth, ever as new and bright
As flaming stars upon the verdant mead,
From dewy morn through noonday heat till eve,
Nor ever age, but keep their native charm
With colors lively, fresh, and fine, till night,
And can be gathered just as well at dusk
As in the morning, let him pluck who will.
" Nor are these flowers either immature
Or overblown, but in the herbage glow
In full perfection of their perfect age.
They're never scorched by too-bright-shining sun
Or drowned by dewdrops bathing them at dawn,
But e'er their roots the sweetest sap provide
To keep them in their perfect loveliness.
" And should you say that lambkins cannot graze
Forever on the selfsame grass and flowers
Without destroying them, then be assured
That ever, as they eat, the herbage springs
Anew; and furthermore (deem it no lie!)
The flowers and grass are indestructible,
However much the flocks may them devour.
Their pasture nothing costs, and so their fleece
Is never sold to stranger folk for wool,
Their skin is never stripped for coverings,
Their flesh is never flayed to make a feast.
No malady will e'er o'ertake them there;
No foul corruption will upon them seize.
I doubt not the Good Shepherd who attends
Them in their pasture never clipped a lock
Nor e'er despoiled them of a feather's worth
That He might clothe Himself in their white wool,
But wears a fleecy robe, it seems to me,
Because it pleases Him to look like them.
" Did I not fear to weary you, I'd tell
How they enjoy an everlasting day;
For never yet has twilight fallen there.
There's neither dawning morn nor darkling night;
The evening and the morning are the same.
Each hour is like a minute, yet the day
Never declines to night, nor is there strife
Between the light and darkness. Measureless
Is time in that abode. Delightful day
Endures forever, and clear weather smiles
In one eternal present, without past
Or future; for one tense is there as three.
No portion of the present has had end,
And there is naught to come; for there exists
No preterite or future tense. The one
Can never be; the other has not been.
All time has but a stable permanence.
The sun, resplendent, ever is in sight;
The day stands still as if the hour were noon;
The season stays as if 'twere always spring,
So fair and pure that none e'er saw its like —
Not even in the time of Saturn's reign,
Which was the Golden Age, till Jupiter,
His son, committed such an outrage vile —
Tormented so his aged sire — when he
Bereft his regal father of his testicles. "