Poem November 29, 1952 Issue

THE LITTLE MAID

II Kings 5:2, 3

Adelaide Rothenberg

By companies they came and took me captive
and brought me to the house of him whose wife
I now must serve—a Syrian!
And I?
An Israelite, whose people he had conquered!

Long hours I prayed for victory within,
to still the gnawing anguish of my fears
and heal the bitterness, so foreign to
the will of God, whose child I am.

Love answered me. Soft as the dawn
compassion stirred.
With joy I went in haste to tell my mistress of
the prophet, who would heal
my valiant master of his leprosy.

O gentle Love! How sweet Thy victory,
which heals, and blesses, and environs all
alike,
both great and small,
who self surrender.

And now, through humble eyes I clearly see
how vain the strife, how sure the liberty!

I dwell in Love, where none can captive be.

Adelaide Rothenberg

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