“When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:2020And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. (Luke 15:20)).
“His father saw him!” Ah! those eager eyes
Had watched through many a dark and lonely
night―
Watched ‘neath the silence of the midnight skies
Till the dawn flooded them with sound and light!
“His father saw him!” After weary years
Of passionate yearning for the well-loved face,
Now to behold him, through joy’s sudden tears,
And feel the rapture of his child’s embrace!
“His father saw him!” All those years of sorrow
Lost in that moment of ecstatic bliss!
Peace for the past and joy for all the morrow
Given in the gladness of the father’s kiss!
Whose is the love so quenchless in its burning?
Whose is the patience which delights to wait
For the slow footsteps which are home returning―
For the lost sinner who is coming late?
Whose is the heart that, so divinely-yearning
(Father and God, ‘tis Thine, and Thine alone!)
Sees the first step the sinner takes, returning:
Runs to embrace, and bid him “Welcome home!”
A. S. M.