A Reed by the River/The Insidious Beggar
THE INSIDIOUS BEGGAR
A little blind boy came knocking, when bitter and long the night,And he said: "Let me in for every one 's mocking.They say it is foolish and perfectly shocking—My pitiful want of sight.
"And yet I can shoot an arrow,"—he rapped, "I pray that you hark.Its flight is swift as that of a sparrow,Its dart can pierce to your very marrow,And I never have missed my mark.
"If I am blind, how can I be knowing the 'way this night unto you?There's never a beacon set for my showing,And yet I can tell, past all foregoing,That the shade of your eyes is blue.
"If I am blind, how may I be telling that nowhere else on the earthSave in your heart can I make my dwelling,Whither my feet have been impellingSince the swift, sweet hour of my birth?"
The little blind boy ceased knocking, for the door it opened—'t is true;And he laughed: "One thing,—lest the door you'd be locking,—One thing I've to tell,—it is perfectly shocking,—I am blind unto all save you!"