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Poem: “The Convert”

by on Jan 25, 2017 in Poetry
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The Convert

After one moment when I bowed my head
And the whole world turned over and came upright,
And I came out where the old road shone white,
I walked the ways and heard what all men said,
Forests of tongues, like autumn leaves unshed,
Being not unlovable but strange and light;
Old riddles and new creeds, not in despite
But softly, as men smile about the dead.

The sages have a hundred maps to give
That trace their crawling cosmos like a tree,
They rattle reason out through many a sieve
That stores the sand and lets the gold go free:
And all these things are less than dust to me
Because my name is Lazarus and I live.

G. K. Chesterton


G. K. Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936) was an English writer, philosopher, biographer, and literary and art critic. He who wrote 80 books, hundreds of poems, approximately 200 short stories, and several plays. He wrote the book called The Everlasting Man, which led a young atheist named C.S. Lewis to become a Christian. His best-known character is the priest-detective Father Brown who appeared in short stories. His most famous novel is The Man Who Was Thursday. He was a Christian before he became a Catholic. Christian themes and symbolism appear in much of his writing.