Long, long ago,
He said,
He who could wake the
And walk upon the sea-"Come, follow Me.
Leave your brown nets and
Only your hearts to sing,
Only your souls to pray,
Rise, come away.
Shake out your spirit-sails,
And brave those wilder gales,
And I will make you
Fishers of men."Was this, then, what He meant?
Was this His high intent,
After two thousand
Of blood and tears?
God help us, if we
For right and not for might.
God help us if we
To shield the weak.
Then, though His heaven be
From this blind welter of war,
He'll bless us, on the
From Calvary.
This poem was taken from Alfred Noyes' book The Elfin Artist and other poems, published in 1920 by William Blackwood and Sons.
It is in a section entitled Songs of the Trawlers.
JS
