To "A Certain Rich Man"

"I HAVE FIVE BRETHREN.... FATHER, I BESEECH THEE ... LEST THEY COME TO THIS PLACE" St. Luke's Gospel

Thou wouldst not part thy spoil Gained from the beggar's want, the weakling's toil, Nor spare a jot of sumptuousness or state For Lazarus at the gate.

And in the appalling night Of expiation, as in day's delight, Thou heldst thy niggard hand; it would not share One hour of thy despair.

Those five--thy prayer for them! O generous! who, condemned, wouldst not condemn, Whose ultimate human greatness proved thee so A miser of thy woe.