{
 "id": "john-henry-newman/the-watchman",
 "title": "The Watchman",
 "ordinal": "XXXVI",
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Henry Newman",
 "poet_slug": "john-henry-newman",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Verses on Various Occasions",
 "book_slug": "verses-on-various-occasions",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 36,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Verses on Various Occasions (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/a600744000newmuoft"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-henry-newman_verses-on-various-occasions",
  "file": "verses-on-various-occasions.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "http://www.newmanreader.org/works/verses",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/009038168",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48927",
   "https://archive.org/details/dreamofgerontius01newmuoft"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 24,
  "n_stanzas": 6,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 51,
  "max_indent": 2
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Faint not, and fret not, for threaten’d woe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Watchman on Truth’s grey height!",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Few though the faithful, and fierce though the foe,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Weakness is aye Heaven’s might.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Infidel Ammon and niggard Tyre,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Ill-fitted pair, unite;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Some work for love, and some work for hire,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But weakness shall be Heaven’s might.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Eli’s feebleness, Saul’s black wrath,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "May aid Ahithophel’s spite;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And prayers from Gerizim, and curses from Gath⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our weakness shall prove Heaven’s might.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Quail not, and quake not, thou Warder bold,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Be there no friend in sight;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "Turn thee to question the days of old,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When weakness was aye Heaven’s might.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Moses was one, but he stay’d the sin",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of the host, in the Presence bright;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "And Elias scorn’d the Carmel din,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "When Baal would match Heaven’s might.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Time’s years are many, Eternity one,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And one is the Infinite;",
    "indent": 2
   },
   {
    "text": "The chosen are few, few the deeds well done,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For scantness is still Heaven’s might.",
    "indent": 2
   }
  ]
 ]
}