Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The House of Life. Sonnet 76. Old and New Art - 3. The Husbandman

Though God, as one that is an householder,
Called these to labor in His vineyard first,
Before the husk of darkness was well burst
Bidding them grope their way out and bestir,
(Who, questioned of their wages, answered, "Sir,
Unto each man a penny":) though the worst
Burthen of heat was theirs and the dry thirst:
Though God hath since found none such as these were
To do their work like them:--Because of this
Stand not ye idle in the market-place.
Which of ye knoweth he is not that last
Who may be first by faith and will?--yea, his
The hand which after the appointed days
And hours shall give a Future to their Past?