Poem December 26, 1964 Issue

THEN ANGELS

Matthew 4

Pearl Strachan Hurd

He had resisted the devil
in the wilderness, alone ;
neither hunger nor argument could force him
to make bread from stone,
to confuse the purpose
of his human life.

What could sustain
him forty days and nights
without food, except
sustenance understood?

"Cast thyself down"
From that high platform,
the pinnacle of the temple!
(Imagine the impact.
the impression, on the crowd.
the proof you could give them: the loud
resultant applause, the acclaim.
What a sensation!
Draw them in. Show them.
Swell the congregation.
Mass conversion!)

"Cast thyself down"!
The sly insisting
voice, quoting Scripture.
"It is written."
Would not angels support you.?

He knew that voice:
he detected the unspoken:
They won't blame me
if things get fouled up
and you destroy yourself.

But he could quote Scripture too.
It was also written.
"Thou shall not tempt
the Lord thy God."
Praise from the multitude.
quick rise to fame—not his goal,
even in the name
of the Most High.
Status symbols
did not count.

Then after the devil—angels
and the purifying flame
of the Sermon on the Mount.

Pearl Strachan Hurd

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