And who are these poor souls who in your name Malign your spirit with their raucous cries? They laud their loyalty unto the skies And hide their hate within your sacred fame. If these are yours, O Spirit without guile -- These selfish souls who by their narrow creed Would bind a world, who with a hallowed greed Would bar from heaven their foes -- how reconcile Their petty notions with those words of grace Divinely uttered, by the shining sea? You glimpsed the earth from little Galilee; You loved all men, although a Jew by race. Yet these blind guides -- your followers, forsooth! -- Would judge the nations by their garbled truth. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE PROPOSAL TO ERECT A MONUMENT IN ENGLAND TO LORD BYRON by EMMA LAZARUS BILLY, HE'S IN TROUBLE by JAMES BARTON ADAMS WATER WOMAN by JOSEPH AUSLANDER ON SENDING MY SON AS A PRESENT TO DR. SWIFT by MARY BARBER LINES TO HANNAH AND PHOEBE by BERNARD BARTON REMARKS TO THE BACK OF A PEW by WILLIAM ROSE BENET |