[Editor: This poem, by Mary Hannay Foott, was published in The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney, NSW), 26 December 1891.]
The Unbidden Guest.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
——
“It is the time of feast and cheer,”
Musing, the joyful said;
“Tell me, my heart, whom bid we here
When friendship’s board is spread?”
I saw the festal windows gleam,
The bolted gates undone;
And, like the people of a dream,
The guests come one by one;
“Now welcome,” said the kindly host,
“O wife, beloved of yore;
Thy seat is here, the uppermost —
Heart-guest for evermore!
“The cloudy weather has blown by,
My gladness thou must share
Whose light of love blazed warm and high
When board and hearth were bare.
“And ye, my children, who will keep
My name with memory’s dew
Fresh from the dust where I shall sleep,
My halls are lit for you.
“My friends, my servants, ye who wait
To glean the crumbs which fall,
Now enter, enter, at the gate,
There is a place for all.”
Then whispered One who stood in doubt,
While Love embraced the rest,
And at the last was left without,
The one Unhonoured Guest:
“I, too, partook thy cheerless days
With her, the first to come;
And I must speak thy blame or praise
When all thy sons are dumb.
“Nor friends’, nor servants’ faith e’er bore
Thy thanklessness like mine;
No beggar, wistful at the door,
So waits thy greeting sign.”
“It is the time of feast and cheer,”
I heard a sinner say;
“Tell me, my heart, whom bid we here
To share our holy day.”
The room was lit; the house was swept;
The ’frighted fiends of sin
Bedazzled to dark corners crept
While happier guests came in.
“O saintly ones, who never thronged
To this dishonoured door,
As when your lives to mine belonged
I sit with you once more!
“Long ceased the prayers, long dried the tears
Ye spent for me in vain.
Thus only, as in better years,
I meet you once again!”
Then whispered One who stood in doubt,
While Memory bade the rest,
And at the last was left without,
The one Unwelcomed Guest:
“I wept for thee in days of yore;
My prayers are never done,
And I am waiting at the door
Which feet less holy shun.
“No ointment of good deeds thou hast
To honour Me withal,
Yet bid Me in and o’er Me cast
The dews which Grief lets fall.”
“It is the time of feast and cheer;
Come, Christ,” the lonely said;
“’Tis winter, and the woods are drear,
And all the birds are dead.
“As in the year so in my soul.
They say Thy voice can fill
The silence when the frost hath stole
The songs from nest and rill.”
“I come from fairer lands,” said He,
“Where kinder breezes blew;
And some of those who dwelt with Me
Besought my love for you.
“We passed ’mid fragrant gardens where
Thy flowers bloomed again,
And thy spent music filled the air
Like bird-songs after rain.”
“O Christ, thou cheerest me with this!
Withdraw not now Thy face,
Until the day I dwell in bliss
In that abiding place.
“Remind me not, when I shall seek
To enter with the Blest —
Once at my door, when winds were bleak,
Thou stood’st the Slighted Guest.”
Mary Hannay Foott.
Source:
The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (Sydney, NSW), 26 December 1891, p. xxx of the Christmas supplement
Editor’s notes:
The sentence given prior to the poem, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock”, is a quotation from Revelation 3:20, in the Bible: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (King James Version)
See: “Revelation 3:20”, Bible Hub
abiding place = in the context of death, Heaven
blest = (archaic) blessed
dumb = mute, unable to speak; unwilling to speak; silent, not speaking (can also refer to: a lack of intelligence; someone who lacks intelligence, or who is regarded as stupid; something which is stupid, foolish, or pointless)
e’er = (vernacular) an archaic contraction of “ever”
festal = of, relating to, or characteristic of, a festival, feast, or celebration; festive
hast = (archaic) have
hath = (archaic) has
’mid = an abbreviation of “amid” or “amidst”: of or in the middle of an area, group, position, etc.
o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)
rill = a very small brook, creek, or stream (a rivulet)
thee = (archaic) you (regarding a person as the object in a sentence)
thou = (archaic) you (regarding a person as the subject in a sentence)
thy = (archaic) your
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
without = (archaic) outside
ye = (archaic; dialectal) you (still in use in some places, e.g. in Cornwall, Ireland, Newfoundland, and Northern England; it can used as either the singular or plural form of “you”, although the plural form is the more common usage)
yore = in the past, long ago (as used in the phrase “days of yore”)
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