| |
| “WHY take him from the crowd? | |
| Why all this long delay? | |
| Surely, we thought, he now will speak aloud, | |
| And Christ’s great word obey.” | |
| |
| Not so, apart from men, | 5 |
| Gazing and thronging round, | |
| He takes him by himself, and not till then | |
| Opens his ear to sound. | |
| |
| Not by mere spell of power, | |
| Or word of boundless might, | 10 |
| Would He, the Son of Man, bestow His dower, | |
| Of hearing or of sight. | |
| |
| First he must draw the soul | |
| In full trust to His own; | |
| Then, and then only, make the sick man whole, | 15 |
| And the strong foe dethrone. | |
| |
| Kind look, and loving word, | |
| These quickened faith’s young life; | |
| The smile they saw, the gentle voice they heard | |
| With mystic power were rife. | 20 |
| |
| But how shall they believe, | |
| Whose sense is wholly closed? | |
| How the new impulse in their souls receive, | |
| To instincts old opposed? | |
| |
| What power shall set them free | 25 |
| From doubt, alarm, mistrust? | |
| What voice shall bid the fears and fancies flee, | |
| Like clouds of April dust? | |
| |
| That want the Healer meets; | |
| He takes the man apart, | 30 |
| Far from the bustling throng of city streets | |
| The wranglings of the mart. | |
| |
| With touch that thrills the sense, | |
| With look that speaks of love, | |
| He, with that spell of sympathy intense, | 35 |
| All barriers can remove. | |
| |
| The finger softly laid | |
| On the deaf ear, dumb lips, | |
| With wondrous working open entrance made, | |
| Through which the new sense slips. | 40 |
| |
| First sound that glads the heart, | |
| That “Ephphatha” is heard, | |
| And opened lips accept their new-found part, | |
| And speak the living word. | |
| |
| Tones first in whispers low, | 45 |
| Then bursting into joy, | |
| The shout of one who must his gladness show | |
| Blithe as free-hearted boy. | |
| |
| We, Lord, are deaf and blind, | |
| Give light that we may see; | 50 |
| Open our ears that we Thy whisper kind | |
| May hear and turn to Thee. | |
| |
| Lead Thou our souls apart, | |
| Touch Thou our tongue and ear, | |
| That we may commune with Thee in our heart, | 55 |
| And Thy high wisdom hear. | |
| |
