
Speak, Prophet of the Lord! We may not start
To find thee with us in thine ancient dress,
Haggard and pale from some bleak wilderness,
Empty of all save God and thy loud heart,
Nor with like rugged message quick to dart
Into the hideous fiction mean and base;
But yet, O prophet man, we need not less
But more of earnest, though it is thy part
To deal in other words, if thou wouldst smite
The living Mammon, seated, not as then
In bestial quiescence grimly dight,
But robed as priest, and honoured of good men
Yet thrice as much an idol-god as when
He stared at his own feet from morn to night.
Note: This poem is in the public domain and can be found here. George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. MacDonald was a pioneering fantasy writer and a mentor to fellow writer Lewis Carroll. Along with his fairy tales and works of fiction, MacDonald wrote several works of Christian theology.