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Home  »  Modern British Poetry  »  What Tomas An Buile Said In a Pub

Louis Untermeyer, ed. (1885–1977). Modern British Poetry. 1920.

James Stephens1882–1950

What Tomas An Buile Said In a Pub

I SAW God. Do you doubt it?

Do you dare to doubt it?

I saw the Almighty Man. His hand

Was resting on a mountain, and

He looked upon the World and all about it:

I saw him plainer than you see me now,

You mustn’t doubt it.

He was not satisfied;

His look was all dissatisfied.

His beard swung on a wind far out of sight

Behind the world’s curve, and there was light

Most fearful from His forehead, and He sighed,

“That star went always wrong, and from the start

I was dissatisfied.”

He lifted up His hand—

I say He heaved a dreadful hand

Over the spinning Earth. Then I said, “Stay,

You must not strike it, God; I’m in the way;

And I will never move from where I stand.”

He said, “Dear child, I feared that you were dead,”

And stayed His hand.