Poem by Alfred Noyes

Fishers of Men

Long, long ago, He said,
He who could wake the dead
And walk upon the sea-
"Come, follow Me.

Leave your brown nets and bring
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 then
Fishers of men."

Was this, then, what He meant?
Was this His high intent,
After two thousand years
Of blood and tears?

God help us, if we fight
For right and not for might.
God help us if we seek
To shield the weak.

Then, though His heaven be far
From this blind welter of war,
He'll bless us, on the sea
From Calvary.

1. The Escape of the Old Grey Squirrel
2. Earth-Bound
3. Kilmeny
4. Necromancy
5. Song of the Wooden-Legged Fiddler

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