{
 "id": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper/simons-feast",
 "title": "Simon’s Feast",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Frances Ellen Watkins Harper",
 "poet_slug": "frances-ellen-watkins-harper",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poetry",
 "book_slug": null,
 "book_kind": "compilation",
 "sequence": null,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1901,
  "venue": "Idylls of the Bible (1901), page 63",
  "note": "Located in the scan on disk under the heading SIMON’S FEAST. First located printing. Idylls of the Bible (Philadelphia: 1006 Bainbridge Street, 1901) is a late gathering of work written over decades, so an earlier printing is likely and has not been located here; the poem is not in the 1857, 1871, 1872/1891, 1895, 1896, 1898 or 1900 volumes on disk.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/idyllsofbible00harp"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-on-miscellaneous-subjects-1857",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsonmiscellan00harp",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-1871",
   "https://archive.org/details/poems01harp",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69249",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007491600",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69248",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100774124",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-poems-full-text-1895",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100488369",
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/frances-ew-harper-idylls-of-the-bible-1901",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100319488",
   "https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00payn",
   "https://archive.org/details/WeeklyAngloAfricanI",
   "https://archive.org/details/sim_liberator_1858-05-14_28_20",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000500702",
   "https://archive.org/details/undergroundrailr00stil",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_sketches-of-southern-life-1872",
   "https://archive.org/details/25th-annual-report-of-the-board-of-managers-of-the-home-etc",
   "https://archive.org/details/frances-ellen-watkins-harper_light-beyond-the-darkness",
   "https://archive.org/details/ame-church-review-1900-04"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 48,
  "n_stanzas": 12,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 42,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "He is coming, she said, to Simon’s feast,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The prophet of Galilee,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though multitudes around him throng",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In longing his face to see.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He enters the home as Simon’s guest,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But he gives no welcome kiss;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He brings no water to bathe his feet⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Why is Simon so remiss?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "The prophet’s face is bright with love,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And mercy beams from his eye;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He pities the poor, the lame and blind,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An outcast, I will draw nigh.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "If a prophet, he will surely know",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The guilt of my darkened years;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With broken heart I’ll seek his face,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And bathe his feet with my tears.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "No holy rabbi lays his hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In blessing on my head;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "No loving voice floats o’er the path,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The downward path I tread.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Unto the Master’s side she pressed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A penitent, frail and fair,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Rained on his feet a flood of tears.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And then wiped them with her hair.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Over the face of Simon swept",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An air of puzzled surprise;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Can my guest a holy prophet be,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And not this woman despise?",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Christ saw the thoughts that Simon’s heart",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had written upon his face,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Kindly turned to the sinful one",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In her sorrow and disgrace.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Where Simon only saw the stains,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where sin and shame were rife,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Christ looked beneath and saw the germs",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of a fair, outflowering life.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Like one who breaks a galling chain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And sets a prisoner free,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He rent her fetters with the words,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Thy sins are forgiven thee.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "God be praised for the gracious words",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Which came through that woman’s touch",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That souls redeemed thro’ God’s dear Son",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May learn to love him so much;",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "That souls once red with guilt and crime",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May their crimson stains outgrow;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The scarlet spots upon their lives",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Become whiter than driven snow.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}