AFTER THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDEC

I am a priest upon whose head

God long ago poured holy oil;

He gave to me a Word and said:

“With this thou shalt mankind assoil!”

Since I went forth God to obey,

Life has revealed me many things —

I find it very hard to say

What is most dear: The task that brings

Bread to the eater, or the rest

That follows toil; the love of friends,

Of books, of song,— each is most blessed

And always with contentment blends.

A stone, a faggot or a flower;

A bird in rapture of its flight;

December-snow or April-shower;

The velvet vastness of the night,

When Mother Moon has left the stars

And with the winds gone gossiping —

Or leans upon the gate that bars

Dawn from untimely entering.

These hold for me unending charm,

Fill me with wonderment and awe

That men should ever think of harm,

Fencing their lives about with law.

The world is such a lovely place —

A jewelled pendant on Love's chain!

I marvel that a human face

Should pale with anger or with pain.

I marvel at the cry for bread

That thunders round the waking world;

The tumult of the legion's tread

That shakes the earth, as souls are hurled

In battle to destroy the souls

God grew in His great garden, when

He won past all His other goals —

Triumphant at the birth of men!

Who can behold the dance of Dawn —

Juggling with stars like tinselled balls,

Vestured in mantle of a wan,

White glory whose dim splendour falls

Upon the mountains; and not feel

Himself transcendant? Who can hear

Clangour of wild birds and the peal

Of matin-bells across the clear,

Blue sky, commingling with the shout

Of children on their way to school,

And fail at once to be about

God's business?— As within a pool

You are reflected, Nature shows

The miracle of what you are —

The highest that Creation knows:

Lord of the earth and every star!

I am a priest upon whose head

God long ago poured holy oil;

He gave to me a Word and said:

“With this thou shalt mankind assoil!”

I come from out the Holy Place

With benediction for the earth,

To wipe the tears from every face

And tell the fallen one his worth.

My business is to be a priest

Whose holy task is to forgive,

To bid the beggar to the feast,

To touch the dead and make them live.

I know not any fear of thrones,

No claim of Scribe and Pharisee;

My word is set to many tones

Of lute and harp and psaltery.

I have no temple and no creed,

I celebrate no mystic rite;

The human heart is all I need

Wherein I worship day and night:

The human heart is all I need,

For I have found God ever there —

Love is the one sufficient creed,

And comradeship the purest prayer!

I bow not down to any book,

No written page holds me in awe;

For when on one friend's face I look

I read the Prophets and the Law!

I need no fountain filled with blood

To cleanse my soul from mortal sin;

For love is an unbounded flood —

Freely I go to wash therein.

Love laughs at boundaries of wrath

And is as infinite as God;

Breaks down each wall, finds out each path

Where wilful, straying feet have trod.

Love is the Word God gave and said:

“With it thou shalt mankind assoil!”

Then forthwith poured upon my head

Anointing of His holy oil!