The blind man who sat by the road

The blind man who sat by the road out of town

Was there every day of the week,

And those passing by on the road heard him call;

For coin or for food he would seek. 

Each day was the same; all the travelers came, 

Each day of the week, of the year,

Until one day he heard joyful cries from a crowd,

And he heard that it was drawing near.

 

This man by the road, Bartimaeus his name,

Made ready to cry out for aid,

But then he was caught by a name from the crowd

And his cry for alms thus was stayed.

For Jesus of Nazareth was on the way,

As near as he ever would be!

Bartimaeus cried out with great pleading and fear,

"Son of David, have mercy on me!"

 

The crowd tried to hush him, but he would not so;

He cried even louder again.

The crowd now grew hushed as it came to a halt;

Then one voice called out, "Bring him in."

The blind man jumped up, tossed his cloak to the side,

And stumbled his way to the man;

And to Jesus he pleaded with all of his heart,

"O my Teacher, let me see again!"

 

When Jesus said, "Go, for your faith has now healed you,"

Dark fell away from his eyes.

And then he beheld what he missed for so long,

The clouds and the trees and the skies.

But he did not go, though the Teacher said so;

His heart drew him rather to stay.

So he gathered himself and fell in with the crowd,

And he followed his Lord on the way.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, October 2024, after Mark 10:46-52.

MUSIC: Tune SAMANTHRA, American folk melody.

 

 

This story has been bugging me for years to set it in some kind of form for congregational singing. I had used this tune for a previous setting, for the parable about the bridesmaids. While this is not a parable, it is a story, and tunes like this were made for telling stories. And I couldn't resist the subtitle.