Who was Malachi?
Shepherd? Prophet? Statesman?
Who can say?—
Voicing enduring truth, precious, vital, immanent, then
As today.
Malachi—messenger pseudonym or name?
Let it suffice, he came—
Came with a vision foreseeing the coming of John.
The cleanser, baptizer, the voice from the wilderness
Calling upon
All to repentance, to wake to the message he brought,
Physical purity, symbol of purified thought.
The link with Old Testament prophets who came to portray
That consciousness chastened through turning from matter's display.
The forerunner of spiritual consciousness hidden until
The heart yields to God, knowing only His purpose and will.
Who was Malachi.?
One who loved purity, urged all to know
That into grateful hearts, purged, reaching to God,
Would flow
The healing truth, the joy to know and prove
The Father's changeless love.
And who foresaw, though centuries apart,
One who would say. "Blessed
Are the pure in heart."
