Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WANDERING JEW, by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WANDERING JEW, by                    
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.





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