Chapter XXXIV

The lowliest timid creature that had life,
Had from the prophet tenderest look and word;
He saved the lambs from torture and the knife,
And bare them in his bosom like his Lord.

While furious men through blood to greatness won,
And women’s eyes with weeping still were wet,
He taught his “sister birds” their antiphon,
Or fondled “little brother leveret.”

Now in his native heaven serene he moves,
With comrades wise, benignant, courteous, kind,
With whatsoever succours, yearns and loves,
With men of godlike and of childlike mind;

And near him walks, familiar and at ease,
My angel-love, for he too was of these.