The Convert

Selected by Dan Clendenin

G.K. Chesterton (1874–1936)

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.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) was nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1935 for his 80 books and 4,000 essays. The eccentric artist, apologist, writer and critic is perhaps best remembered for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown.

Dan Clendenin: dan@journeywithjesus.net

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