Poems of Peace/The Righteous Man
THE RIGHTEOUS MAN
No harmful shaft can reach the righteous man,
Standing erect amid the storms of hate,
Defying hurt and injury and ban,
Surrounded by the trembling slaves of Fate.
Majestic in the strength of silent power,
Serene he stands, nor changes not nor turns;
Patient and firm in suffering’s darkest hour,
Time bends to him, and death and doom he spurns.
Wrath’s lurid lightnings round about him play,
And hell’s deep thunders roll about his head;
Yet heeds he not, for him they cannot slay
Who stands whence earth and time and space are fled.
Sheltered by deathless love, what fear hath he?
Armoured in changeless Truth, what can he know
Of loss and gain? Knowing eternity,
He moves not whilst the shadows come and go.
Call him immortal, call him Truth and Light
And splendour of prophetic majesty
Who bideth thus amid the powers of Night,
Clothed with the glory of divinity.