Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892). The Poetical Works in Four Volumes. 1892.

Poems by Elizabeth H. Whittier

Charity

THE PILGRIM and stranger who through the day

Holds over the desert his trackless way,

Where the terrible sands no shade have known,

No sound of life save his camel’s moan,

Hears, at last, through the mercy of Allah to all,

From his tent-door at evening the Bedouin’s call:

“Whoever thou art whose need is great,

In the name of God, the Compassionate

And Merciful One, for thee I wait!”

For gifts in His name of food and rest

The tents of Islam of God are blest,

Thou who hast faith in the Christ above,

Shall the Koran teach thee the Law of Love?—

O Christian!—open thy heart and door,

Cry east and west to the wandering poor:

“Whoever thou art whose need is great,

In the name of Christ, the Compassionate

And Merciful One, for thee I wait!”