Classic Poem

Tobias, journeying to Ecbatane,
Takes with him Azarias as he fares,
Which is an angel, serving unawares,
To guide and bring him to his house again.

Raphael walks mid-picture, sandal-shod;
Three fingers in three fingers leads the boy;
Holding sweet speech, the distance to employ;
The little curly dog sniffs out his road.

Tobias, jerkined, belted, simply cloaked,
With naked shanks, except for limp-legged boots
Against rough stones or harsh and prickly roots;
Bareheaded, querulous and wonderlooked.

Glorious archangel, Medicine of God,
Kind courier, peacock-plumed thy pinions be,
Sign of thine ancient immortality,
Folded for fare on mortal stone and sod.

Thy glory floats and glints twixt hair and wing.
Thou wearest man's attention on thy face;
Though somewhat else Tobias doth half trace
Therein, whiles thou art wise of trafficking.

Tobias bears his fish, and neatly slung,
Lest its scales soil, or it should leave a reek;
Raphael the gall, old Tobit's eyes being sick,
By sparrows' hospitality quick stung.

Hard to each hand, Tobias doth not see
Great Michael, armed and exquisite, alert,
The prince, the Warrior, lest any hurt;
Lest Asmodeus lurk to thwart, walks he.

And gentle Gabriel, the ambassador;
His arm a lily-stalk, with triple bloom,
And three locked lilies (tidings yet to come)
One with an angel maketh one of four.

Much sky and little earth complete arrear,
Tree-fledged and island-strawn, the Tigris, bland
Creeps lower. (Pilgrims trudge on mountain land.)
Flower and thorn and stone are frequent near.

Hasting to speed thy marriage, thou and he,
Tobias, hardly yet at man's first scope,
Sprung of staunch kindliness and godly hope,
Brought up and nourished in captivity.

Forth from the river, come to take thy bath,
Leaped fleshly passion, eager to devour;
“Seize him,” the angel said; and in that hour
Slit out his gall, his lust, his bilious wrath.

To medicine the gall at bidding turned
Of him who leadeth thee; the heart laid by;
The liver too, to purpose presently,
To fright the demon, being spoiled and burned.

Mark how Tobias, setting out for gain,
Under the angel guidance halts halfway
For greater gain; the guide resumes the way,
Wise and alone, to spare his ward the pain.

He sees in Azarias one of his tribe,
A man discreet and just, but hired for wages
To bring him into Media, to Rages;
Back to the city of Sennacherib.

Of Raphael's work, and how he handled it,
With fish's gall how he gave Tobit sight,
Purgation of the demon-haunted night,
Is written in the book which Tobit writ.

All things being done, and done exceeding well,
The guide replied to him, when said Tobias:
“Give we the half of gain to Azarias:”
“Call me not so, my name is Raphael.”

There liveth no Tobias graced with power
To take angelic counsel, to uproot
Swarth lust, meek purity to substitute,
But meets the angel in the proper hour.