<P> Richard Crashaw wrote a metaphysical stanza for his Steps to the Temple in 1646 entitled, "Upon Lazarus His Tears": </P> <P> Rich Lazarus! richer in those gems, thy tears, Than Dives in the robes he wears: He scorns them now, but oh they'll suit full well With the purple he must wear in hell . </P> <P> Dives and Lazarus appear in Edith Sitwell's poem "Still falls the Rain" from "The Canticle of the Rose", first published in 1941 . It was written after The Blitz on London in 1940 . The poem is dark, full of the disillusions of World War II . It speaks of the failure of man, but also of God's continuing involvement in the world through Christ: </P> <P> Still falls the Rain At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross . Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us--On Dives and on Lazarus: Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one . </P>

The story of the rich man and lazarus in the bible