<h2><SPAN name="page131"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>INTERMEDIARY</h2>
<p class="poetry">When from the prison of its body free,<br/>
My soul shall soar, before it goes to Thee,<br/>
Thou great Creator, give it power to know<br/>
The language of all sad, dumb things below.<br/>
And let me dwell a season still on earth<br/>
Before I rise to some diviner birth:<br/>
Invisible to men, yet seen and heard,<br/>
And understood by sorrowing beast and bird—<br/>
Invisible to men, yet always near,<br/>
To whisper counsel in the human ear:<br/>
And with a spell to stay the hunter’s hand<br/>
And stir his heart to know and understand;<br/>
To plant within the dull or thoughtless mind<br/>
The great religious impulse to be kind.</p>
<p class="poetry">Before I prune my spirit wings and rise<br/>
To seek my loved ones in their paradise,<br/>
<SPAN name="page132"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>Yea!
even before I hasten on to see<br/>
That lost child’s face, so like a dream to me,<br/>
I would be given this intermediate role,<br/>
And carry comfort to each poor, dumb soul:<br/>
And bridge man’s gulf of cruelty and sin<br/>
By understanding of his lower kin.<br/>
’Twixt weary driver and the straining steed<br/>
On wings of mercy would my spirit speed.<br/>
And each should know, before his journey’s end,<br/>
That in the other dwelt a loving friend.<br/>
From zoo and jungle, and from cage and stall,<br/>
I would translate each inarticulate call,<br/>
Each pleading look, each frenzied act and cry,<br/>
And tell the story to each passer-by;<br/>
And of a spirit’s privilege possessed,<br/>
Pursue indifference to its couch of rest,<br/>
And whisper in its ear until in awe<br/>
It woke and knew God’s all-embracing law<br/>
Of Universal Life—the One in All.</p>
<p style="text-align: center" class="poetry">* * * * *</p>
<p class="poetry">Lord, let this mission to my lot befall.</p>
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