A VOICE! A Voice--and is it but a voice
That from the wilderness sends up a cry?
"God's Kingdom is at hand; your only choice,
O wretched! is to turn from sin or die.
Bring forth good fruits; the poor man's needs supply;
Be just, be merciful. Behold the Lord,
Whose rule shall spread unto eternity!
A prophet I? Nay, but a Voice! The Word
That Was and Is comes like a seraph's sword
To bend brute force to the free spirit's sway,
Where'er His tidings glad by men are heard;
But John's faint echoes shall soon die away."
Not so, O greater than a prophet, thou
From Herod's dungeon rose and livest now!