What Christ Said

I said, “Let me walk in the fields.”

He said, “No; walk in the town.”

I said, “There are no flowers there.”

He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “But the skies are black,

There is nothing but noise and din;”

And he wept as he sent me back;

“There is more,” he said, “there is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thick,

And fogs are veiling the sun.”

He answered, “Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say.”

He answered, “Choose tonight

If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.

He said, “Is it hard to decide?”

It will not seem hard in Heaven

To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

He said, “My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into his hand went mine;

And into my heart came he;

And I walk in a light divine,

The path I had feared to see.

~George MacDonald