II The Tares and the Wheat
My kingdom I will liken to,
A man who in his field
Sow’d good seed, and expected soon
A harvest it would yield.
But while his servants slept, there came
A wicked enemy,
And sow’d his tares among the wheat,
And then went on his way.
And when the good seed did appear
The tares began to show;
The servants wonder’d much, and said,
“Why, master, thou didst sow
“The best of seed all o’er the field,
From whence then come these tares?”
“An enemy,” he said, “hath come
Upon us unawares,
“And scattered forth his evil seed;”
The servants said to him,
“Wilt thou then, that into the field
We go and gather them?”
The master answer’d them and said,
“Let both together grow,
Until the time of harvest, lest
Ye pluck the wheat also.
“And when the time of harvest comes,
The wheat shall in my barn
Be gather’d; but the tares I’ll bind
And in the fire burn.”
The children of the kingdom are
The good seed that is sown,
The tares that came up with the wheat
Are of the evil one.
The enemy who sow’d the tares,
Is he who fell afar;
The harvest, when the world shall end;
The angels reapers are.
The righteous shall be gather’d home
Forever with the Lord;
And as the tares are burn’d, so shall
The wicked be destroy’d.