St. Gregory Nazianzen
Peace-loving man, of humble heart and true
What dost thou here?
Fierce is the city’s crowd; the lordly few
Are dull of ear!
Sore pain it was to thee—till thou didst quit
Thy patriarch-throne at length, as though for power unfit.
So works the All-wise! our services dividing
Not as we ask:
For the world’s profit, by our gifts deciding
Our duty-task.
See in king’s courts loth Jeremias plead;
And slow-tongued Moses rule by eloquence of deed!
Yes! thou, bright Angel of the East! didst rear
The Cross divine,
Borne high upon thy liquid accents, where
Men mock’d the Sign;
Till that cold city heard thy battle-cry,
And hearts were stirr’d, and deem’d a Pentecost was nigh.
Thou couldst a people raise, but couldst not rule:—
So, gentle one,
Heaven set thee free—for, ere thy years were full,
Thy work was done;
According thee the lot thou lovedst best,
To muse upon the past—to serve, yet be at rest.
Palermo. June 12, 1833.