The Pool of Bethesda

by Seba Smith

 
  Unto the holy city came
     Judea's hapless sons and daughters,
  The paralytic, blind and lame,
     To seek Bethesda's healing waters---
  The Angel o'er the fountain mov'd
     With kindly power from day to day;
  And he that first its virtues prov'd,
     Was heal'd, and forthwith went his way.

  Amid the throng who waited there,---
     Judea's sons and daughters,---
  A patient Hebrew many a year
     Had watch'd the troubled waters.
  And often at the healing hour
     He feebly toward the fountain bore him,
  But all too late to feel its power,
     For one had always stepp'd before him.

  A stranger came and look'd awhile
     On him who there in anguish lay,
  Then kindly said, with holy smile,
     'Hebrew, arise and go thy way!'
  As forth into the world that hour,
     With footsteps light, the Hebrew trod,
  'I've felt,' he cried, 'the Almighty's power,
     I've heard the voice of God.'