| Alfred H. Miles, ed. The Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century. 1907. | | | Verses on Various Occasions.
V. David and Jonathan | | By John Henry Newman (1801–1890) |
| | Lazaret, Malta, January 16, 1833 “ Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” |
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O HEART of fire! misjudged by wilful man, | |
| Thou flower of Jesse’s race! | |
| What woe was thine, when thou and Jonathan | |
| Last greeted face to face! | |
| He doomed to die, thou on us to impress | 5 |
| The portent of a blood-stain’d holiness. | |
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| Yet it was well:—for so, ’mid cares of rule | |
| And crime’s encircling tide, | |
| A spell was o’er thee, zealous one, to cool | |
| Earth-joy and kingly pride; | 10 |
| With battle scene and pageant, prompt to blend | |
| The pale calm spectre of a blameless friend. | |
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| Ah! had he lived, before thy throne to stand, | |
| Thy spirit keen and high | |
| Sure it had snapp’d in twain love’s slender band, | 15 |
| So dear in memory; | |
| Paul of his comrade reft, the warning gives.— | |
| He lives to us who dies, he is but lost who lives. | | | |
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