Christ of His gentleness <br />Thirsting and hungering, <br />Walked in the wilderness; <br />Soft words of grace He spoke <br />Unto lost desert-folk <br />That listened wondering. <br />He heard the bitterns call <br />From ruined palace-wall, <br />Answered them brotherly. <br />He held communion <br />With the she-pelican <br />Of lonely piety. <br />Basilisk, cockatrice, <br />Flocked to his homilies, <br />With mail of dread device, <br />With monstrous barbéd slings, <br />With eager dragon-eyes; <br />Great rats on leather wings <br />And poor blind broken things, <br />Foul in their miseries. <br />And ever with Him went, <br />Of all His wanderings <br />Comrade, with ragged coat, <br />Gaunt ribs—poor innocent— <br />Bleeding foot, burning throat, <br />The guileless old scapegoat; <br />For forty nights and days <br />Followed in Jesus’ ways, <br />Sure guard behind Him kept, <br />Tears like a lover wept.<br /><br />Robert Graves<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in-the-wilderness/
