| |
| THERE is a cry in Burmah, and a rush | |
| Of thousand footsteps from the distant bound | |
| Of watery Siam and the rich Cathay. | |
| From the far northern frontier, pilgrims meet | |
| The central dwellers in the forest-shades, | 5 |
| And on they press together. Eager hope | |
| Sits in their eye, and on their lips the warmth | |
| Of strong request. Is it for bread they seek, | |
| Like the dense multitude which fainting hung | |
| Upon the Saviour’s words, till the third day | 10 |
Closed in and left them hungering?
Not for food | |
| Or raiment ask they. Simply girding on | |
| The scanty garment o’er the weary limb, | |
| They pass unmarked the lofty domes of wealth | |
| Inquiring for a stranger. There he stands; | 15 |
| The mark of foreign climes is on his brow; | |
| He hath no power, no costly gifts to deal | |
| Among the people, and his lore perchance | |
| The earth-bowed worldling with his scales of gold | |
| Accounteth folly. Yet to him is raised | 20 |
| Each straining eyeball, “Tell us of the Christ!” | |
| And like the far-off murmur of the sea | |
| Lashed by the tempest, swelled their blended tone, | |
| “Sir, we would hear of Christ. Give us a scroll | |
Bearing his name.”
And there that teacher stood, | 25 |
| Far from his native land,—amid the graves | |
| Of his lost infants, and of her he loved | |
| More than his life,—yes, there he stood alone, | |
| And with a simple, saint-like eloquence | |
| Spake his Redeemer’s word. Forgot was all,— | 30 |
| Home, boyhood, Christian-fellowship,—the tone | |
| Of his sweet babes,—his partner’s dying strife,— | |
| Chains, perils, Burman dungeons,—all forgot, | |
| Save the deep danger of the heathen’s soul, | |
| And God’s salvation. And methought that earth | 35 |
| In all she vaunts of majesty, or tricks | |
| With silk and purple, or the baubled pride | |
| Of throne and sceptre, or the blood-red pomp, | |
| Of the stern hero, had not aught to boast | |
| So truly great, so touching, so sublime, | 40 |
| As that lone Missionary, shaking off | |
| All links and films and trappings of the world, | |
| And in his chastened nakedness of soul | |
| Rising to bear the embassy of Heaven. | |
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