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

Added: Apr 28 2005 | Viewed: 781 times | Comments (0)

Poet: Robert Graves
Poem: In the Wilderness

There are no comments for this poem. Why not be the first one to post something about it?

Are you looking for more information on this poem? Perhaps you are trying to analyze it? The poem, In the Wilderness, has not yet been commented on. You can click here to be the first to post a comment about it. Of course you can also always discuss poems by Robert Graves with others on the Poetry Connection poetry forum!