Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst

Sermon on the Mount. St Luke.

(The Gospel History, Section 43)

Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled.

Blessed are ye that hunger and thirst

(The Saviour of the World, Vol II Book III Poem XXXI)

The Master said:—
“Blest are ye hungry;”—ye who taste
How dully hours and years may waste
In talk insipid, pleasures stale,
New scenes, employs, of small avail
To cure distemper of the heart
That hath not found its worthy part:—

Blest are ye hungry—ye that tread
A heavy way, grey skies o’erhead,
Lonely in long procession, sad,
Of folk whose brows are rarely glad;
Who toil and fret for daily bread,
And, getting that, are scantly fed:—

Blest are ye hungry—poet souls,
Whom tender hue, bird lilt, consoles;
Who yet, an-hungered in our ways,
Go, lacking, to sustain the days,
That purpose high, that generous aim,
Shall all a man’s endeavour claim:—

Ye who are sated, and not fed,—
Ye dreary whom none yet has led
In pleasant ways,—ye ardent wills
Whom earth nor solaces nor fills,—
Come ye, come all! There’s bread to spare,
Delicious draught for you to share!

Know we to name the thing we need,
Seek bread of God our soul to feed,
Water of life to satisfy,—
Who hears the ravens when they cry
Hath promised we, too, shall be filled,
Our cravings eased, our crying, stilled!

“Blesséd ye hungry,” saith the Lord
To those disciples heard His word:—
The Twelve, an-hungered, know their need,
And wait as birds on scattered seed;
Peck at the Word and take their fill
As greedy fowl with eager bill!

St. Luke vi. 21