Read "Gehazi" by Rudyard Kipling online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
'Whence comest thou, Gehazi, / So reverend to behold, / In scarlet and in ermines / And chain of England's gold? ' / 'From following after Naaman / To tell him all is well, / Whereby my zeal hath made me / A Judge in Israel.'
Well done, well done, Gehazi, / Stretch forth thy ready hand, / Thou barely 'scaped from judgment, / Take oath to judge the land, / Unswayed by gift of money / Or privy bribe, more base, / Of knowledge which is profit / In any market-place.
Search out and probe, Gehazi, / As thou of all canst try, / The truthful, well-weighed answer / That tells the blacker lie -- / The loud, uneasy virtue, / The anger feigned at will, / To overbear a witness / And make the Court keep still.
Take order now, Gehazi, / That no man talk aside / In secret with his judges / The while his case is tried. / Lest he should show them -- reason / To keep a matter hid, / And subtly lead the questions / Away from what he did.
Thou mirror of uprightness, / What ails thee at thy vows? / What means the risen whiteness / Of the skin between thy brows? / The boils that shine and burrow, / The sores that slough and bleed -- / The leprosy of Naaman / On thee and all thy seed? / Stand up, stand up, Gehazi, / Draw close thy robe and go, / Gehazi, Judge in Israel, / A leper white as snow!