![E.C.B., By: G.K. Chesterton](https://i0.wp.com/poetrycatalog.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/E.C.B.-By-G.K.-Chesterton.jpg?resize=750%2C420&ssl=1)
Before the grass grew over me,
I knew one good man through and through,
And knew a soul and body joined
Are stronger than the heavens are blue.
A wisdom worthy of thy joy,
O great heart, read I as I ran;
Now, though men smite me on the face,
I cannot curse the face of man.
I loved the man I saw yestreen
Hanged with his babe’s blood on his palms.
I loved the man I saw to-day
Who knocked not when he came with alms.
Hush!–for thy sake I even faced
The knowledge that is worse than hell;
And loved the man I saw but now
Hanging head downwards in the well.