I’m Ready For My Last Degree (A Poem)

April 1, 2008 at 9:16 pm · Filed under Masonic Poems and tagged: Poetry

(From the Scottish Rite Reporter, Vol. XXXVII, March 2007)  

An old man lay sick in the Masonic State Home

His face was as white as the White Sea foam

His eyes were dim, his hair was gray

His back was bent with the toils of the way

He unflatteringly spoke, and I heard him say: 

“I’m ready for my last degree.” 

I’ve come to the end of that level of time

That leads us all to the Grand Lodge sublime

From whose sacred form none ever returns

More light in Masonry there I shall learn

By an altar where light ever more burns. 

“I’m ready for my last degree.” 

With the apprentice’s gauge I divided my time

And this I have found amidst life’s great turmoil

Time for work, for worship and rest for my toil

My wages are due in corn, wine and oil. 

“I’m ready for my last degree.” 

Each day from life’s quarries I’ve hewn out a stone

With the gavel I’ve shaped them each one alone

And shipped them alone beyond that bright strand

To build me a house in that bright, better land

A spiritual house not made by hands. 

“I’m ready for my last degree.” 

I’ve squared each stone by the virtue square

And plumbed them all true as I shipped them there

With the compass, I’ve measured the Master’s Designs

And kept in due bounds with his points and his lines

My blueprints are folded — I’ve answered his signs. 

“I’m ready for my last degree.” 

A few moments later the old man was dead

And I fancy I could see his soul as it fled

Upward and onward to that great door

Where he gave his alarm with these words once more:

“I’m ready for my last degree.” 

That night in a lodge free from strife and storm

He took his last degree – his last in due form

So may I live as to build day by day

A spiritual house in that land far away

So when I meet my Grand Master I can say: 

“I’m ready for my last degree.”

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