I. GEHAZI by the hue that chills thy cheek And Pilate by the hue that sears thine hand Whence all earth's waters cannot wash the brand That signs thy soul a manslayer's though thou speak All Christ, with lips most murderous and most meek -- Thou reach thy rod forth over Indian land! Slave of the slaves that call thee lord, and weak As their foul tongues who praise thee! son of them Whose presence put the snows and stars to shame In centuries dead and damned that reek below Curse-consecrated, crowned with crime and flame, To them that bare thee like them shall thou go Forth of man's life -- a leper white as snow. II. Call for clear water, wash thine hands, be clean, Cry, @3What is truth?@1 O Pilate; thou shalt know Haply too soon, and gnash thy teeth for woe Ere the outer darkness take thee round unseen That hides the red ghosts of thy race obscene Bound nine times round with hell's most dolorous flow And in its pools thy crownless head lie low By his of Spain who dared an English queen With half a world to hearten him for fight, Till the wind gave his warriors and their might To shipwreck and the corpse-encumbered sea; But thou, take heed, ere yet thy lips wax white, Lest as it was with Philip so it be, O white of name and red of hand, with thee | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...NIGHTFALL IN DORDRECHT by EUGENE FIELD THE MARTYRS OF THE MAINE by RUPERT HUGHES A QUESTION by JOHN MILLINGTON SYNGE IMPROMPTU LINES ON JULY FOURTH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE INDIGNANT CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |