Classic Poem

J UDEA'S summer-day went down,
And lo! from vale and plain,
Around the heavenly Healer throng'd
A sick and sorrowing train.

The pallid brow, the hectic cheek,
The cripple bent with care,
And he whose soul dark demons lash'd
To foaming rage, were there.

He raised his hand, the lame man leap'd,
The blind forgot his wo,
And with a startling rapture gazed
On Nature's glorious show.

Up from his bed of misery rose
The paralytic pale,
While the loathed leper dared once more
His fellow-man to hail.

The lunatic's illumined brow,
With smiles of love o'erspread,
Assured the kindred hearts that long
Had trembled at his tread.

The mother to her idiot-boy
The name of Jesus taught,
Who thus with sudden touch had fired
The chaos of his thought.

Yes, all that sad, imploring train
He heal'd ere evening fell,
And speechless joy was born that night
In many a lonely cell.

Ere evening fell! Oh ye, who find
The chills of age descend,
And with the lustre of your locks
The almond-blossom blend;

Haste, ere the darkening shades of night
Have every hope bereaved,
Nor leave the safety of the soul
Unstudied, unachieved.