Street Corner Christ

I saw Christ to-day
At a street corner stand,
In the rags of a beggar he stood
He held ballads in his hand.

He was crying out:- "Two for a penny
Will anyone buy
The finest ballads ever made
From the stuff of joy?"

But the blind and deaf went past
Knowing only there
An uncouth ballad- seller
With tail- matted hair.

And I whom men call fool
His ballads bought,
Found him whom the pieties
Have vainly sought.

Patrick Kavanagh