Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE BALLAD OF THE JUDAS TREE, by EMILY HENRIETTA HICKEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE BALLAD OF THE JUDAS TREE, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The blossom is on the judas tree
Last Line: The frost that burns eternally.
Subject(s): Betrayal; Judas Iscariot (d. 30 A.d.); Sin


THE blossom is on the Judas Tree,
Rosed-white bells all fair to see.
What are they chiming mystically,
Those little bells so sweet and free?
What are they tolling heavily,
In a grim and drear monotony?
How is it now with thee and thee,
Woman and man by the Judas Tree?
Woman and man, be swift to flee
From the rosed-white bloom of the Judas Tree.

(But they pluck the flowers of the Judas Tree.)

The leafage is on the Judas Tree,
Clasping the blossom verdantly.
Man and woman, for thee and thee,
Not I but the truth of God in me,
Lift a voice to bid you flee
From the blossom and leaf of the Judas Tree.

(But they gather the leaves of the Judas Tree.)

The fruitage is on the Judas Tree,
Purple glooming in deadly blee.
Oh, if ye pluck that ill berry,
Pluck the fruit of the Judas Tree,
Never again for thee and thee,
Woman and man, shall joyaunce be.

(But they eat the fruit of the Judas Tree.)

Sun, rain, and dews, 'twas never ye
That nurtured the deadly Judas Tree!
Never these gracious things to see
Never the fair earth's sweetness free
Nurtured the deadly Judas Tree!

Oh, the life of the Judas Tree
An ill spirit fed mortally.
(He once was incarnate treachery.)
He burrowed beneath the Judas Tree,
And rose with the sap of the Judas Tree,
Each bough and twiglet entered he,
And laughed a-low in his deathly glee.

Was this the curse of the Judas Tree?
God He knoweth for thee and thee,
How your two souls walked the way that he
Showed the world in Gethsemane,
With the greeting and kiss of treachery.

Ye two knelt on bended knee
Where the Light of Light shines veiledly;
Ye two vowed sweet vows to be
Children of Light for eternity;
Oh, what is this for thee and thee,
What was your sin by the Judas Tree?

Not the sin of the leaping free
Of hearts high beating passionately;
Not the sin of the pride and glee
Of the giver-soul that comes to be
Betrayed by its generosity;
But the deadly thing that chillingly
Pierced to the marrow of thee and thee
With its dart of utter falsity.
Oh, poor souls, poor souls who dree
The woes than which none heavier be,
Deaf ears and eyes that cannot see.

Out of God's grace ye went to be
Guests at His foes' base revelry;
Clasping the low things sordidly,
The low things lighter than vanity.
Thirty pieces of shining blee?
Nay, not a silverling to see!
Only the coinage false that we
Call the wages that devilry
Giveth its servants verily.

(But the wages of sin is death, said He.)

Was it the curse of the Judas Tree?
Was it thus, poor souls, for thee and thee,
Were ye wrapt in the strangling folds that be
Spun and woven in hell? Were ye
Drawn to your sin by the curse that he
Who once was incarnate treachery,
Brought from hell to the Judas Tree?

He whom ye sold for pelf was He
Before whose face one day shall flee
Sin and death for eternity;
He whom ye sold your Judge shall be.
What of His doom for thee and thee?

Yea, but the Judge of all is He
Who loved you both on His gibbet tree.
Haste to His infinite charity,
Clasp to His wounded feet, and flee
From Him to Him for your lives, that He
May take to His mercy thee and thee.

The winter shall kill the Judas Tree,
When Christ on those looks mercifully
Who have known the bloom of the Judas Tree,
Who have sinned with the leaves of the Judas Tree,
Who were drugged with the juice of its mirk berry,
Who sinned their sin with the Judas Tree.
God's frost shall kill the Judas Tree,
The frost that burns eternally.





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