| (THE CITY quakes, the earth is filled with blood— | |
| I, I that love Thee raised Thee on this Rood!) | |
| |
| Lord, I am least of all Thy followers, | |
| Yet greatest in my love: devotion spurs | |
| Me on to strange deep thoughts and stranger deeds | 5 |
| My roughness planned not erst, | |
| For all unversed | |
| In ways of love I would content Thy needs, | |
| Delight Thee with a flower, a word, a song, | |
| Striving to make Thy toilsome way less long, | 10 |
| Its stones less bitter, its rebuffs less rude, | |
| To guard Thee ’gainst the sharp ingratitude | |
| Of those who beg Time and Eternity, | |
| Both worlds at once, abusing clemency. | |
| |
| Dazzle them, Master, with a word | 15 |
| Such as the universe has never heard; | |
| Whisper it till the earth’s foundations quake, | |
| And fiery worlds awake | |
| And shake | |
| Their burning pinions, and ring out the cry | 20 |
| That shrilly echoes | |
| Where between whirling planets flows | |
| The ardent stream of palpitating light. | |
| Destroy the worlds, Oh Lord, | |
| With the one whispered word, | 25 |
| And with consuming flame illume the sight | |
| Of all those muddy souls who love Thee not. | |
| Or bid the flying circles cease | |
| And a great peace | |
| Thunder across immensity, | 30 |
| Enwrapping heaven and earth and sky. | |
| Bid the air cease to hum | |
| And all the murmuring orbs be dumb, | |
| Suddenly, utterly, | |
| And shatter them with silence— | 35 |
| |
| Yea, Master, I have borne to see Thee weep, | |
| More deep | |
| The iron scarce could pierce my suffering soul; | |
| Have seen Thee fast and pray, | |
| Struggle and sweat. | 40 |
| While the eleven slept the night away | |
| My brow was wet, | |
| My heart beat high, | |
| For, lo, I read | |
| The scroll of Heaven emblazonèd, | 45 |
| And knew Thy triumph nigh— | |
| |
| (The city quakes, the air is full of blood— | |
| I, I that love Thee raised Thee on this Rood!) | |
| |
| Scourged, spit upon, denied, | |
| I suffered all with Thee; | 50 |
| Raising Thee high that all should bend the knee. | |
| That very royal crown of thorns | |
| That crimsoneth Thy brow— | |
| So might gleam rubies set on snow,— | |
| I offered it; dear Master, look on me, | 55 |
| Say, have I not done well? | |
| How my poor heart would swell | |
| At praise from Thee— | |
| For see, without my deed, | |
| Thy deed had not been done; | 60 |
| This be my meed | |
| They battle won— | |
| And that down future ages, lighted by the torch | |
| That Thou dost kindle, men shall say— | |
| |
| (The city quaked, the air was full of blood, | 65 |
| Judas that loved Him raised Him on the Rood!) | |
| |
| Peter in the porch | |
| Warmed his chilled hands as he denied, | |
| While Judas’ teeth did chatter before Caiaphas; | |
| My darkness seemed a heavy monstrous mass | 70 |
| With but one quivering light—Thy tortured death— | |
| Ay, for it pierced beneath | |
| My heart into my spirit—yet I knew | |
| Before the worlds that task I had to do; | |
| God set it me, let me fulfil | 75 |
| His very bitter will— | |
| |
| Master, my voice is harsh, mine eyes are dim, | |
| I should rejoice and hymn | |
| Thy great uplifting, high above all towers— | |
| Follow the circle round, there Judas cowers, | 80 |
| Lonely, forsaken, outcast, anguish-swayed; | |
| Yet we are one, betrayer and Betrayed; | |
| Thou drinkest of my cup, I drink of Thine, | |
| Thou art immortal, I shall be divine; | |
| Dreaming, Thou risest from Thy painful Throne, | 85 |
| Waking, Thou drawest to Thee me, Thine own. | |
| I kissed Thee gently—Thou hast understood? | |
| Out on the silly cowards who deserted Thee, | |
| Whom men call good. | |
| Thou and I are free, | 90 |
| We see not as the others see, | |
| We dream— | |
| And that is times away. | |
| Far down the stream | |
| Of heavenly ways we see our paths unite | 95 |
| Where the veils fall, and day | |
| For me replaces night— | |
| |
| (The city quakes, the earth is full of blood— | |
| I, I that love Thee raised Thee on this Rood!) | |
| |
| Farewell, my Love, my Master, I have dared | 100 |
| For Thee that lesser men had left undone, | |
| Be my love hereby proved, I have not spared | |
| To give my God where God but gave His Son. | |
| I bear such pains, my body was not formed | |
| To see the struggles of a dying God, | 105 |
| Or hold the terror of a prisoned soul | |
| Striving for freedom: I am fain | |
| Of silence, and the peace of night again. | |
| Night brooding over Galilee, | |
| And our small company | 110 |
| Each with his portioned dole | |
| Quietly laid about Thee on the sod, | |
| Beneath which, now, there is no peace for me, | |
| For Thou and I have work to do—Oh God! | |
| Forsaken, helpless, therefore doubly to be loved— | 115 |
| See how I yearn o’er Thee! | |
| |
| Yet are Thy throes soon past, | |
| And mine, aeonial, scarce begun, | |
| For where Thy name is honoured, I am cursed; | |
| Outcast, reviled, I down the ages go, | 120 |
| Death but delivers me to greater woe. | |
| But where Thy passion is rehearsed | |
| Our names are linkèd still, | |
| And Thine shall such a heavenly dew distil | |
| That mine shall be washed pure and sweet some day, | 125 |
| And children’s lips sing ‘Judas’, like a kiss, | |
| But in no softer way | |
| Than fell that kiss with which I did betray | |
| Thy sad humanity, | |
| Freeing the Godhead for eternity— | 130 |
| |
| (The city quakes, the air is full of blood,— | |
| Judas that loves Thee raised Thee on this Rood!) | |
| |
| These triumphs are too keen, we die, | |
| So sharp the sacrifice, the agony. | |
| Keep Thou the hapless Judas in Thy heart, | 135 |
| Nor fail me on that far-off day | |
| When all that erred in my sad deed is purged away. | |
| My lowly part | |
| Was just to make the sacrifice complete, | |
| Adding to heavenly stature earthly feet: | 140 |
| Thou art uplifted, I shall be cast down, | |
| Master, farewell, until my destined crown | |
| Is won, and all Thou strivest for fulfilled. | |
| I am not worthy that my blood be spilled | |
| Like Thine: in grosser pangs be spirit torn | 145 |
| From my gross body, let the wide world scorn | |
| So I but join Thee aeons after | |
| Where the soft laughter | |
| Of the redeemed echoes about the heavenly space; | |
| And find, crouched at Thy feet, a little quiet place. | 150 |
| Then, when my courage grows, after awhile, | |
| Murmur to me, with Thy celestial smile— | |
| |
| Judas! for the great love I bear to Thee | |
| I grant thee to be crucified with Me! | |
