Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE WANDERING JEW, by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY First Line: Go quicker, jesus!' Last Line: Lives on and on and makes for hell or heaven. Alternate Author Name(s): Oxenham, John Subject(s): Jesus Christ - Suffering & Sacrifice; Religion; Theology | ||||||||
"Go quicker, Jesus!" Kartaphilos said, And smote The Prisoner on the head, As He left the Judgment Hall. "I go!" The Christ replied, "But thou ... for that foul blow, -- Linger thou here upon this side, Until I bid thee go!" And so, -- through all centuries since then, Undying, Kartaphilos drags his chain Of lengthening years the wide world over, Weary and fain; Soul-shrunken, life's lamp dim, He craves sweet Death, but all in vain; Death passes by with cold disdain, And will have none of him. Hungering for that which most men dread, He dies not, nor can die, Until the Lord Christ come again To loose his misery. Nought dies -- thought, word, or deed, once given, Lives on and on and makes for hell or heaven. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MYSTIC BOUNCE by TERRANCE HAYES MATHEMATICS CONSIDERED AS A VICE by ANTHONY HECHT UNHOLY SONNET 11 by MARK JARMAN SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE COMING OF THE PLAGUE by WELDON KEES A LITHUANIAN ELEGY by ROBERT KELLY A NEW EARTH by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY |
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