@3FIRST VOICE.@1 O TRUTH ETERNAL, in whose Name they mock, Wound, crucify, not marking how they stain Thy seamless robe with torture, treachery, pain,— Thee have they flouted in the prison-dock Who canst the secrets of the world unlock! O Son of Mary, Jewish Mary, slain Only to conquer! prison-walls are vain When on the prison-door they hear Thee knock. But, for the Jailors, blinded ere they fell, Poor souls who prayed and wept before they swerved, Them most I pity, each in his own hell, For friends of all Unrighteousness reserved,— Still banqueting where unjust stewards dwell, Their manhood lost, soul twisted, sight unnerved. @3SECOND VOICE.@1 AH, what avail compassion, scorn, and hate? Scorn may ring valiant, pity may be true; But all your clamours have not saved the Jew Who looked unblenching in the eyes of fate!— Amid the agonies that devastate, Madden and wither, ever strong and new, Brave, stood his noble hope in God and you, His fellow-men, and in his fearless mate. Go break the bars of destiny and move The mountains: sternly, spoke by spoke, Reverse the awful power of Fortune's wheel! Anguish of passion, prayer, and effort prove Till base Injustice all her game revoke, While Love and Truth their cryptic word reveal! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...IN HOSPITAL: 23. MUSIC by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY TO ALFRED TENNYSON by WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR THE RUBAIYAT, 1879 EDITION: 24 by OMAR KHAYYAM THE COTTON BOLL by HENRY TIMROD A HINT FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE THIRD SATIRE OF JUVENAL by PHILIP AYRES |