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ANGEL.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Lo! as I passed on my way

In the harvest-field I beheld thee,

When no man compelled thee,

Bearing with thine own hands

This food to the famishing reapers,

A flock without keepers!

 

The fragrant sheaves of the wheat

Made the air above them sweet;

Sweeter and more divine

Was the scent of the scattered grain,

That the reaper's hand let fall

To be gathered again

By the hand of the gleaner!

Sweetest, divinest of all,

Was the humble deed of thine,

And the meekness of thy demeanor!