The Poetry Corner

What Man Is There Of You?

By George MacDonald

The homely words how often read! How seldom fully known! "Which father of you, asked for bread, Would give his son a stone?" How oft has bitter tear been shed, And heaved how many a groan, Because thou wouldst not give for bread The thing that was a stone! How oft the child thou wouldst have fed, Thy gift away has thrown! He prayed, thou heard'st, and gav'st the bread: He cried, "It is a stone!" Lord, if I ask in doubt and dread Lest I be left to moan, Am I not he who, asked for bread, Would give his son a stone?