'Who art thou that comest with a steadfast face Through the hushed arena to the burying-place?' 'I am one whose footprints marked upon the sand Cry in blood for vengeance on a guilty land.' 'How are these thy garments white as whitest snow Though thy blood hath touched them in its overflow?' 'My blood cannot stain them, nor my tears make white; One than I more mighty, He hath made them bright.' 'Say, do thy wounds pain thee open every one, Wounds that now are glowing clearer than the sun?' 'Nay, they are my gladness unalloyed by grief; Like a desert -fountain, or a long relief. 'When the lion had thee in his deadly clasp, Was there then no terror in thy stifled gasp?' 'Though I felt the crushing, and the grinding teeth. He was with me ever, He who comforteth.' 'Didst thou hear the shouting, as of a great flood, Crying out for vengeance, crying out for blood?' 'I heard it in silence, and was not afraid, While for the mad people silently I prayed.' 'Did their hate not move thee? art thou heedless then Of the fear of children and the curse of men?' 'God looked down upon me from the heaven above, And I did not tremble, happy in His love.' | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BOY'S SUMMER SONG by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR EPITAPH ON THE ADMIRABLE DRAMATIC POET, WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE by JOHN MILTON THE ONE LOST by ISAAC ROSENBERG THE FIELD MOUSE by WILLIAM SHARP FABLE; ROME, 1875 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH WEDDED (PROVENCAL AIR) by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH PERVERSITY by EVA K. ANGLESBURG |