| |
V. DREAMING I slept. Three crosses stood | |
| High in the gloomy air; | |
| One bore a thief, and one the Good; | |
| The other waited bare. | |
| |
| A soldier came up to the place, | 5 |
| And took me for the third; | |
| My eyes they sought the Master’s face, | |
| My will the Master’s word. | |
| |
| He bent His head; I took the sign, | |
| And gave the error way; | 10 |
| Gesture nor look nor word of mine | |
| The secret should betray. | |
| |
| The soldier from the cross’s foot | |
| Turned. I stood waiting there: | |
| That grim, expectant tree, for fruit | 15 |
| My dying form must bear. | |
| |
| Up rose the steaming mists of doubt, | |
| And chilled both heart and brain; | |
| They shut the world of vision out, | |
| And fear saw only pain. | 20 |
| |
| “Ah me, my hands! the hammer’s blow! | |
| The nails that rend and pierce! | |
| The shock may stun, but, slow and slow, | |
| The torture will grow fierce. | |
| |
| “Alas, the awful fight with death! | 25 |
| The hours to hang and die! | |
| The thirsting gasp for common breath! | |
| The weakness that would cry!” | |
| |
| My soul returned: “A faintness soon | |
| Will shroud thee in its fold; | 30 |
| The hours will bring the fearful noon; | |
| ’Twill pass—and thou art cold. | |
| |
| “’Tis His to care that thou endure, | |
| To curb or loose the pain; | |
| With bleeding hands hang on thy cure— | 35 |
| It shall not be in vain.” | |
| |
| But, ah, the will, which thus could quail, | |
| Might yield—oh, horror drear! | |
| Then, more than love, the fear to fail | |
| Kept down the other fear. | 40 |
| |
| I stood, nor moved. But inward strife | |
| The bonds of slumber broke: | |
| Oh! had I fled, and lost the life | |
| Of which the Master spoke. | |
| |
