English

With woe unutterable, and pity vast
As the still Heaven on which His eyes were cast,
That old Jew listen'd, while new voices cried,
" We too were slain because we testified!"
But as they pass'd along with waving brands
Beneath Him, He outstretch'd His trembling hands
As if to bless them, murmuring low yet clear,
" Father in Heaven, where art Thou? Dost Thou hear?"
And at the voice those Spirits cried again,
" We testified against thee and were slain!"
And never down on them His eyes were turn'd,

Then, waiting on and watching thro' the gloom,
I saw the glimmer of an open Tomb
Hewn in the mountain-side, and thence a band
Crown'd and tiara'd, each with Cross in hand,
Of woeful Phantoms issued, murmuring:
" We were the Vicars of this Christ, our King!
And lo, he let us reign! — and sins like lice
Ran o'er us, while we sought with foul device
To cloak the living Lie on which we fed!"

And one cried, " As I lay upon my bed,
My leman at my side, mine hands still red
With mine own brother's blood they strangled me!"

Then saw I rise
A shape with broad bold brow and fearless eyes,
Behind him as he came a murmuring train
Of augurs, soothsayers, and armed men,
With gentle priests of Ceres and of Pan.
" Room there," they cried aloud, " for Julian!"
Bareheaded, helm in hand, he took his place
Before the Accused, a smile upon his face.

" Thy name was J ULIAN ?"

He answered, " Yes!
I wore the Imperial robe in gentleness,
And looking on the World around my throne
I heard the wretched weep, the weary moan,

THE WITNESSES .

First to the front a shrouded figure crept,
Gazed upon Jesus, hid his face, and wept,
Saying, " What would ye? Wherefore am I taken
Out of the dark grave where I slept forsaken,
Forgetting all my heritage of woe?"

" What Soul art thou?"
" One Judas, named also
Iscariot."
" Know'st thou the Accused?"
" Aye me.
In sooth I know him, to my misery!
I followed him, and I believed for long

" In the name of all men I arraign this Man,
Named Jesus, son of Joseph, and self-styled
The Son of God!
" Born in the East, the child
Of Jewish parents, toiling for their bread,
He grew to manhood, following, it is said,
His father's humble trade of carpentry;
But hearing one day close to Galilee,
One John, a madman, in the desert crying
Baptising all who came and prophesying,
This Jesus also long'd to prophesy;
And lo! ere very many days went by
He left his tools, forsook his native town,

Methought I stood upon an open Plain
Beyond the City, and before my face
Rose, with mad surges thundering at its base,
A mountain like Golgotha; and the waves
That surged round its sunless cliffs and caves
Were human — countless swarms of Quick and Dead!

Then, while the fire-flaught flickered overhead,
I saw the Phantoms of Golgotha throng
Around that ancient Man, who trailed along
A woeful Cross of Wood; and as He went,
His body bruised and His raiment rent,
His bare feet bleeding and His force out-worn,

O ye, ye ancient men born yesterday,
Some few of whom may in this Yuletide lay
Feel echoes of your own hearts, listen on,
Till the faint music of the harp is gone
And the weak hand drops leaden down the string!
For lo, I voice to you a mystic thing
Whose darkness is as full of starry gleams
As is a tropic twilight; in your dreams
This thing shall haunt you and become a sound
Of friendship in still places, and around
Your lives this thing shall deepen, and impart
A music to the trouble of the heart,

Lo, now the Moonlight lit his features wan
With spectral beams, and o'er his hoary hair
A halo of brightness fell, and rested there!
And while upon his face mine eyes were bent
In utterness of woeful wonderment,
Into mine ear the strange voice crept once more:
" Far have I wandered, weary and spirit-sore,
And lo! wherever I have chanced to be,
All things, save men alone, have pitied me!"
Then — then — even as he spake, forlornly crown'd
By the cold light that wrapt him round and round,

O night of wonder! O enchanted Night!
Full of strange whisperings and wondrous light,
How shall I, singing, summon up again
Thine hours of awe and deep miraculous pain?
For as I stood upon those streets of stone
I seem'd to hear the wailing winds intone
" A HASUERUS !" — while with lips apart,
His thin hand prest upon his fluttering heart,
His face like marble lit by lightning's glare,
His frail feet bleeding, and his bosom bare,
List'ning he stood!
From the blue Void o'erhead

Vaster and mightier a thousandfold
Than Babylon or Nineveh of old,
Shrouded in snow the silent City slept;
And through its heart the great black River crept
Snakewise, with sullen coils that as they wound
Flash'd scales of filmy silver; all around
The ominous buildings huddled from the light
With cold grey roofs and gables tipt with white,
And lines of lamps made a pale aqueous glow
With streaks of crimson in the pools below
Between the clustering masts. 'Twas still, like Death!
Still as a snow-clad grave! No stir! No breath!