The poem
He looked in all His wisdom from the throne Down on that humble boy who kept the sheep, And sent a dove; the dove returned alone: Youth liked the music, but soon fell asleep.
But He had planned such future for the youth: Surely, His duty now was to compel. For later he would come to love the truth, And own his gratitude. His eagle fell.
It did not work. His conversation bored The boy who yawned and whistled and made faces, And wriggled free from fatherly embraces;
But with the eagle he was always willing To go where it suggested, and adored And learnt from it so many ways of killing.