The Second Book

HIS BATTLE WITH SINFUL WAYS; THE VOICE FROM THE CROSS;
HE IS THOUGHT TO BE MAD FOR SELLING ALL HIS GOODS.

Addition
¹⁴⁷To the figure of Christ, to deposit this useless load?

In further ways the Lord touched Francis in his inmost soul.
Now, close to Assisi there stood, old and precarious,
The church of Saint Damian which, in order to say a prayer
One day Francis entered; and there, while to the Crucified
And to His cross he turned attention, panting in his prayers,
Thrice to him, from heaven and from the cross, came a voice:
"Go, and repair my house, Francis, for it is in ruins."
On hearing the voice, amazed and astonished, beyond himself
He was snatched away; but, returning to himself again,
He took this mandate to mean the material repair
Of the church, which he could see in such a wrecked condition.
Whereas the message was referring rather to that church
That Christ, by shedding His own blood as ransom-price, redeemed,
As to him later, when God revealed the meaning, was made known.

¹⁴⁸These worries occupy him, when lo! He comes upon the church

The Third Book

PERSECUTION BY HIS FATHER; DISINHERITED,
HE IS A STRIPPED OUTCAST IN HIS HOMELAND.

Addition
¹⁶⁵His clothes, he lays them down, including his trousers.
To be entirely stripped bare he declined not, out of love
Of Him who upon the cross was willing to hang naked.
And so, departing naked from the world, he left all things,
And being naked, followed the naked Christ crucified.
¹⁶⁶Without a stitch, stark naked he stands, for all the world like Adam.

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