The mission—The fourth Two

(The Saviour of the World, Vol III Book IV Poem XLVII)

“You’re welcome to my house, good friends,
But who his proper business tends,
He can’t give heed to doctrine strange,—
Matters so far beyond his range
He could not comprehend, not he,
Thought he of nothing else! For me,
I leave such questions to the priests,
Whilst I lay fodder for the beasts
That well repay my kindly care:
I go e’en now to see how fare
Five yoke of oxen I have bought;
Sufficient for my time and thought
To prove how these will go in plough;
Small time for dreaming farmer hath, I trow!”
So spake that man, nor gave the Apostles leave
To show him of these things he should believe:
The day’s work all his care, he went his way:
The Two had come to him might not delay
In village prosperous where that man dwelt,
Where all men’s thoughts with crops and cattle dealt:
What need had they of more? The Two depart,
Dust shaken from their feet, with sorry heart.