Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NEW APOCRYPHA: ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NEW APOCRYPHA: ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Who is that coming? Look! They are bearing a body again
Last Line: With the ghost of caesar's lust, and the mist of peter's faith.


Who is that coming? Look! They are bearing a body again.
It's a woman now, I think. And the very same young men

Who brought Ananias' body we buried a moment ago.
Pat down the earth a little, the grass will sooner grow.

Yes, now I see it's Sapphira. What did she do to win
Death at the hands of Peter, or was it her husband's sin?

To which she agreed, or kept her husband's secret in faith.
They sold a sheep, as I hear it, and suffered sudden death

For hiding part of the price, for a thing commendable:
Their boy is sick, and they needed money to get him well.

Just look how things are going: Caesar the despot rules,
The state is his. For the rest, we are run by a pack of fools;

Zealots and mystics who say that the end of the world is near.
Tyranny around us, on top, under us dullness and fear.

Songs and the wine-cup banished, freedom throttled blue.
It's the same here being a Greek, Persian, Median, Jew.

Roman sovereignty over us, merciless, cold and bright.
Fogs over the land of dust, day no different than night.

Listless we labor or idle, creep into an early bed.
Sleep is the best thing now, and the best is the sleep of the dead.

Prepare for the end of the world! Build up the church, the throne,
Sell all your goods and give, have nothing to call your own;

Put everything in common. That's one cry. What remains?
Taxes, soldiers, prisons, edicts, laws and chains.

There never was such a time! What man is lord of his soul?
Someone entered my barn and took my ass with foal

For the prophet to ride on in triumph. I was there and saw him ride,
Crowds crying hallelujah pressing on every side.

They would have all things in common. They kill a man and his wife,
And Caesar rules as always, and yet they call this life!

Wars forever and ever, manned by hovels and huts;
And what is it all about? lands, and gold and guts;

And baptists stirring the dreamers, and bankers that thrive thereby.
Why kill off Ananias when the whole of life is a lie?

All right, young men, put her down. Go to it now with the spade.
We'll bury the woman Sapphira here where her husband's laid.

They're out of it. Neither Caesar nor Peter can wake their sleep.
I lost my ass, and they lost their lives for the price of a sheep.

And Caesar will rule forever! And Peter if he grows strong
Will make a pact with Caesar, and Israel's woe and wrong

Will spread all over the earth. It takes no prophet to see
That while there is Gold and Fear man will never be free --

Until the world is fed, and hunger steals like a wraith
With the ghost of Caesar's lust, and the mist of Peter's faith.





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