"Allah! Allah!" cried the sick man, racked
with pain the long night through,
Till with prayer his heart grew tender, till his
lips like honey grew!
But with morning came the tempter, said, "Call
louder, child of pain!
See if Allah ever hears or answers, 'Here am I,' again."
Like a stab the cruel cavil through his brain
and pulses went—
To his heart an icy coldness, to his brain a
darkness, sent.
Then Elias stands before him, says, "My child,
why thus dismayed?
Dost repent thy former fervor? Is thy soul
of prayer afraid?"
"Ah!" he cried, "I've called so often, never
heard the 'Here am I,'
And I thought, God will not pity, will not turn
on me his eye!"
Then the grave Elias answered, "God said,
'Rise Elias! go,
speak to him, the sorely tempted, lift him from
his gulf of woe.
Tell him that his very longing is itself an answering cry;
That his prayer, 'Come, gracious Allah,' is my
answer, 'Here am I!'
Every inmost aspiration is God's angel, undefiled,
And in every "O my Father!" slumbers deep
a "Here, my child!"
