| To “a Certain Rich Man” |
“I have five brethren. . . . Father, I beseech thee . . .
lest they come to this place”
St. Luke’s Gospel |
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Thou wouldst not part thy spoil
Gained from the beggar’s want, the weakling’s toil,
Nor spare a jot of sumptuousness or state
For Lazarus at the gate.
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And in the appalling night
Of expiation, as in day’s delight,
Thou heldst thy niggard hand; it would not share
One hour of thy despair.
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Those five—thy prayer for them!
O generous! who, condemned, wouldst not condemn,
Whose ultimate human greatness proved thee so
A miser of thy woe.
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