The Question:
Minstrel with a song
On the wide, white road —
Loafing with the lilies of the June —
What makes you so strong
Underneath your load,
Lilting such a joyous little tune?
Tell me, little brother,
What I want to know —
Why your lips are tremulous with joy —
Why you, like a mother,
Soothe and love me so,
As she used to when I was a boy.
All the way behind
Fades into a dream
Hideous with faces in the gloom;
Phantom-terrors blind
With a lurid gleam
Glowing from Gehenna-gulfs of doom!
The Answer:
Comrade, I will tell you
How I laugh and sing,
Loafing with the lilies by the way.
Comrade, what befell you
That you missed the King
Crowned with purple pansies of the day?
Brother, Him I know —
Lord of earth and star —
Find Him with the ferns beside the pool;
All the splendours grow
Dim and fade afar,
When He walks at shut of day and cool.
Fear not to address Him —
Cosmic-Comrade He —
Lonely for the love He wants from you!
Up at once and bless Him —
Lift a jubilee
With the host of loyal hearts and true!