Zinzendorff and Other Poems/The Bible Class in the Connecticut State Prison
THE BIBLE CLASS IN THE CONNECTICUT STATE PRISON.
I saw them bending o'er that holy page,
Whose breath is immortality. There seemed
No sadness on their features; to their limbs
No fetters clung; and they whose early years
Had told dark tales of wretchedness and shame,
Lifted a calm, clear eye.
Amazed, I asked,
Is this a prison? and are these the men
Whom Justice from the world's sweet fellowship
Hath sternly severed?
But a voice replied,
God's spirit hath been here. Serene it came
Into the cells where guilt and punishment
Rivet their chains, making the victim's life
A hated burden, and his hope despair!
It came! Rebellion laid his weapons down;
The flinty breast grew soft: the rugged brow
Gave channels for the tear of penitence;
And souls, which sin had blotted from their race
As a foul gangrene, to the Healer turned,
Bathed, and were whole.
So now with humble step
Their penal course they measure, giving still
The day to toil, and meeting every night,
In solitude, reflection's chastening glance,
Which wounds to purify. There, too, doth glide
Fair Charity, prompting to deeds divine
The unaccustomed pupil, while he cons,
'Mid the deep silence of a lonely bed,
His Bible lesson; seeks a deeper root
For Christian purpose, or anticipates
Glad Freedom's sacred gift.
Ye whom our God
Hath held from deep transgression, be not proud;
Nor, in the heat of passion, haste to weigh
A brother's fault. The eternal Judge himself
(When by the sin of ingrate Adam moved)
Came not to Eden till the cool of day.
And since that hour, when first the vengeful sword
Wav'd o'er the forfeit gate of Paradise,
Man hath been wayward, weak, and prone to fall
Beneath temptation's wile, and so must be
Unto the dooms-day burning.
Then let his bitterest discipline be mixed
In Mercy's cup, that so the prison cell
May work his soul's salvation; and the "law.
Like school-master" severe, the truant bring
To Christ, his advocate and righteousness.