Classic Poem

And beyond the Jordan Jesus saw again
(not far remote, His day was drawing nigh)
the lifeless meadow lands shorn of their grain.

The women stood about beneath the high
house portals crying loud: " O Prophet, hail! "
He had in mind the day that He should die.

He took His seat under a sheafing pale
of grain, and said: " Unless one hideth there
the seed in earth, the harvesting will fail. "

He had in mind the heavenly granaries fair:
and you, O children, round about Him played,
with arid stalks of grain in your brown hair.

Against His bosom those brown heads He laid;
and Cephas then began: " This ill portends
to seamless garment Thine, I am afraid. "

He put His arms about His little friends.
" A robber's son, " then Judas whispered low,
" Rabbi, it is, who at Thy feet there bends:

his father is Barabbas, who must go
to die upon the cross. " The Prophet, He,
with shadow in His voice, low murmured: " No, "

and took the little one upon His knee.