| W. Garrett Horder, comp. The Poets’ Bible: New Testament. 1895. | | | | Jacob’s Well | | James Freeman Clarke (1810–1888) |
| | | HERE, 1 after Jacob parted from his brother, | |
| His daughters lingered round this well, new made; | |
| Here, seventeen centuries after, came another, | |
| And talked with Jesus, wondering and afraid. | |
| Here, other centuries past, the Emperor’s mother | 5 |
| Shelter’d its waters with a temple’s shade. | |
| Here ’mid the fallen fragments, as of old, | |
| The girl her pitcher dips within its waters cold. | |
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| And Jacob’s race grew strong for many an hour, | |
| Then torn beneath the Roman eagle lay; | 10 |
| The Roman’s vast and earth-controlling power | |
| Has crumbled, like these shafts and stones, away, | |
| But still the waters, fed by dew and shower, | |
| Come up as ever, to the light of day, | |
| And still the maid bends downward with her urn, | 15 |
| Well pleased to see its glass her lovely face return. | |
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| And those few words of truth, first uttered here, | |
| Have sunk into the human soul and heart; | |
| A spiritual faith dawns bright and clear, | |
| Dark creeds and ancient mysteries depart; | 20 |
| The hour for God’s true worshippers draws near; | |
| Then mourn not o’er the wrecks of earthly art; | |
| Kingdoms may fall, and human works decay, | |
| Nature moves on unchanged, Truths never pass away. | |
| | | Note 1. Suggested by a sketch of Jacob’s Well and Mount Gerizim. [back] | | |
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