OBEDIENCE

I said, ‘Let me walk in the fields.’
He said, ‘No, walk in the town.’
I said, ‘There are no flowers there.’
He said, ‘No flowers, but a crown.’

I said, ‘But the skies are black;
There is nothing but noise and din.’
And he wept as he sent me back;
‘There is more.’ he said; ‘there is sin.’

I said, ‘But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun.’
He answered, ‘Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone.’

I said, ‘I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say.’
He answered, ‘Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they.

I pleaded for time to be given.
He said, ‘Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide.’

I cast one look at the fields,
Then set my face to the town;
He said, “My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?’

Then into his hand went mine,
And into my heart came he;
And I walk in a light divine
The path that I had feared to see.

George MacDonald (1822-1905)
Published in East Asia Millions, Oct/Nov, 1988