  “Cast not your pearls down before swine!” The words are Thine!— Listen, cast not The treasure of a white sea-grot, An uncontaminate, round loveliness, A pearl of ocean-waters fathomless, A secret of exceeding, cherished light, A dream withdrawn from evening infinite, A beauty God gave silence to—cast not This wealth from treasury of Indian seas, Or Persian fisheries, Down in the miry dens that clot The feet of swine, who trample, hide and blot. To us Thy words!... But, see, In Thy idolatry Of us, all thought Of counsel fails and falls to nought! Pearl of Great Price, within the monstrance set, Why wilt Thou for Thyself Thy charge forget? O Love, from deeps before the world began, O Sheltered of God’s Bosom, why for man Wilt Thou so madly in the slough be cast, Concealed ’mid tramplings and disgrace of swine? O Host, O White, Benign! Why spend in rage of love at last Thy wisdom all eternity amassed? |
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