The Sifting of Peter

A Folk-Song    “Behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.”—LUKE xxii. 31. IN Saint Luke’s Gospel we are told How Peter in the days of old           Was sifted; And now, though ages intervene, Sin is the same, while time and scene           Are shifted. Satan desires us, great and small, As wheat, to sift us, and we all           Are tempted; Not one, however rich or great, Is by his station or estate           Exempted. No house so safely guarded is But he, by some device of his,           Can enter; No heart hath armor so complete But he can pierce with arrows fleet           Its centre. For all at last the cock will crow Who hear the warning voice, but go           Unheeding, Till thrice and more they have denied The Man of Sorrows, crucified           And bleeding. One look of that pale suffering face Will make us feel the deep disgrace           Of weakness; We shall be sifted till the strength Of self-conceit be changed at length           To meekness. Wounds of the soul, though healed, will ache; The reddening scars remain, and make           Confession; Lost innocence returns no more; We are not what we were before           Transgression. But noble souls, through dust and heat, Rise from disaster and defeat           The stronger, And conscious still of the divine Within them, lie on earth supine           No longer.