“I MET A MAN”

I met a man when night was nigh,

Who said, with shining face and eye

Like Moses’ after Sinai: -

“I have seen the Moulder of Monarchies,

Realms, peoples, plains and hills,

Sitting upon the sunlit seas! -

And, as He sat, soliloquies

Fell from Him like an antiphonic breeze

That pricks the waves to thrills.

“Meseemed that of the maimed and dead

Mown down upon the globe, -

Their plenteous blooms of promise shed

Ere fruiting-time — His words were said,

Sitting against the western web of red

Wrapt in His crimson robe.

“And I could catch them now and then:

—‘ Why let these gambling clans

Of human Cockers, pit liege men

From mart and city, dale and glen,

In death-mains, but to swell and swell again

Their swollen All-Empery plans,

“‘ When a mere nod ( if my malign

Compeer but passive keep )

Would mend that old mistake of mine

I made with Saul, and ever consign

All Lords of War whose sanctuaries enshrine

Liberticide, to sleep?

“‘ With violence the lands are spread

Even as in Israel's day,

And it repenteth me I bred

Chartered armipotents lust-led

To feuds... Yea, grieves my heart, as then I said,

To see their evil way!’

— “The utterance grew, and flapped like flame,

And further speech I feared;

But no Celestial tongued acclaim,

And no huzzas from earthlings came,

And the heavens mutely masked as‘ twere in shame

Till daylight disappeared.”

Thus ended he as night rode high -

The man of shining face and eye,

Like Moses’ after Sinai.