Poems (Jordan)/Reminded

by Rebecca Queen Jordan

REMINDED

Within an humble country church,
 With pews uncushioned; aisle-ways bare;
Where spiders found a lofty perch,
 And light shone through with glassy glare;
There came one day a stranger, who—
 Merely to pass the time away—
Had sought this place where but a few
 Were gathered on the Holy Day.

Soon, up the shaky pulpit stair
 Stept a gowned form, with face ashine;
A Minister of God stood there,
 Breaking the Bread of Life divine.
The stranger felt a sudden thrill;
 His eyes glanced, askingly, about;
All seemed familiar, and still
 He ne'er before had seen this spot.

Familiar was the priest's sweet voice—
 Though as an echo did it sound—
The faces of the girls and boys
 Suggested what they left unfound.
Ah, suddenly he knew, and wept,—
 It was so like the place where he,
A boy, unto the Savior crept,
 Promising deathless loyalty.

Since then he had his Lord denied,
 He "though all men forsook, would stay!"
Now, through these things on ev'ry side,
 Is prophecy fulfilled today,
For by ev'ry little, homely thing
 His soul is stirred as with a shock;—
A cough; a glance; the hymns they sing,
 Are but the "crowing of the cock!"