Cleansing The Temple

 CLEANSING THE TEMPLE.

AGAIN the Paschal feast had come,
And strangers throng the busy street;
While in the temple's sacred courts
The buyer and the seller meet.
Shrill, babbling voices, wild and rude —
The shouting of the multitude ;
The lowing cattle from the fold,
The coo of doves, the clink of gold ;
The money-changer's greedy cry, —
Loud, eager voices, fierce and high, —
Discordant sounds from far and near
Are borne upon the startled ear.

"Take these things hence!" above the din
There sounds a voice of stern command;
The while, the awestruck throng behold
A godlike Presence, firm and grand.
With scourge of cords within his hand.

Then, like a mighty torrent rushed
The surging mass, from pen and fold;
The drivers with their cattle fled,
The money-changers, with their gold;
The screaming throng, the bellowing herds,
The bleating sheep, the frightened birds, —
All, all, in one vast, rushing tide,
From that stern Presence flee to hide.
In wild dismay they flee in fear.
As though th' Avenger's sword were near