Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NEW APOCRYPHA: JOHN IN PRISON, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NEW APOCRYPHA: JOHN IN PRISON, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: John said to the jailer: 'where are my disciplines? Befriend
Last Line: "shall we look for another to save us, or is he the one?"


(St. Luke, Chapter XVI. St. Matthew, Chapter XI.)

John said to the jailer: "Where are my disciples? Befriend
My grief and my doubt, and entreat them to come, to the end

That they ask him for me if we look for another, or deem,
As I did, that this prophet shall save and fulfill and redeem."

And the jailer replied: "Since the wrath of King Herod a dish
Your head shall contain by to-morrow, I give you your wish."

So he brought the disciples to John and the two of them led
To the cell where he sat, and John to the two of them said: --

"At this end of my life and my hopes, at the door of my doom
Go ask him for me and report: is it he that should come,

Or shall we yet look for another?" Amazed were the two
And one of them spoke to the Baptist and said: "Is it true

That you preached in the wilderness saying repent and prepare
The way of the Lord, whose shoes I am worthless to bear;

Who will fan out the chaff, gather wheat, purge the floor
With fire and the Spirit baptize you, bring down and restore

The kingdom of heaven? And are we abused in the word
That as he came out of the waters of Jordan you heard

A voice call from heaven which thundered: 'This son of my love
With whom I am pleased you shall hear,' and a dove

For the Spirit descended upon him -- and yet can you ask
If he be the one that should come? Yet we take up the task

And go at your bidding." And John said: "I suffer without
You seek him and ask, for this is the cause of my doubt: --

I have heard of his works and rejoice. But why does he feast
When I fasted myself? And how have the rumors increased

That he fellows with publicans, sinners and drinkers of wine,
A bibber himself, when the springs of the desert were mine?

And how is the ax, as I said, laid close to the root of the tree,
And my curses fulfilled of the Pharisees, if this must be?

And if, as they say, he is preaching the word that we make
Of the unrighteous mammon a friend for the day when we break

With the lords of the riches of truth, as he put it, for then
The unrighteous mammon shall take us, console us again: --

I have wasted the goods of my lord! I am caught and accused!
Shall I make good the theft from my lord in a trust I abused?

Why, no! I go out to the debtors, my master to foil,
How much do you owe him? Why, so many measures of oil!

Sit down then, I say, make the bill but a half, quickly write: --
I am wiser in this, so he says, than the children of light --

As I make for myself by the trick of a thief, and a theft,
The confederates' home for my own for my honor bereft.

Go! learn if he said this. Return ere the rise of the sun: --
Shall we look for another to save us, or is he the one?"





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