| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | June 24 | | Saint John the Baptist | | By William Drummond (1585–1649) |
| | June 24, St. John’s Day
THE LAST and greatest Herald of Heaven’s King, | |
| Girt with rough skins, hies to the deserts wild, | |
| Among that savage brood the woods forth bring, | |
| Which he more harmless found than man, and mild. | |
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| His food was locusts, and what there doth spring, | 5 |
| With honey that from virgin hives distilled; | |
| Parched body, hollow eyes, some uncouth thing | |
| Made him appear, long since from earth exiled. | |
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| There burst he forth; All ye whose hopes rely | |
| On God, with me amid these deserts mourn, | 10 |
| Repent, repent, and from old errors turn! | |
| —Who listened to his voice, obeyed his cry? | |
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| Only the echoes, which he made relent, | |
| Rung from their flinty caves, Repent! Repent! | | | | |
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