Quotes 4: Poetry from John Merick

John Merick, otherwise known as the Elephant Man, suffered from hideous disfigurements. However, beneath his exterior features was said to be  a noble, gentle man who accepted his fate as coming from G-d. Below is some poetry attributed to him. Let us learn from this man how powerful faith in G-d is and how the soul is the measure of a man.

    "’Tis true my form is something odd,
    but blaming me is blaming god.
    Could I create myself anew,
    I would not fail in pleasing you.

    Was I so tall, could reach the pole,
    or grasp the ocean with a span;
    I would be measured by the soul.
    The mind’s the standard of the man."

    – a poem often quoted by Joseph Carey Merrick

[http://www.phreeque.com/joseph_merrick.html]
[http://www.victorianweb.org/books/suicide/06b.html]

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