| |
1918
“Ille autem iterum negavit.”
THE FIRST time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| He shrank from the cudgel, the scourge and the cord, | |
| But followed far off to see what they would do, | |
| Till the cock crew—till the cock crew— | |
| After Gethsemane, till the cock crew! | 5 |
| |
| The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| ’Twas only a maid in the palace who heard, | |
| As he sat by the fire and warmed himself through. | |
| Then the cock crew! Then the cock crew! | |
| (“Thou also art one of them.”) Then the cock crew! | 10 |
| |
| The first time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| He had neither the Throne, nor the Keys nor the Sword— | |
| A poor silly fisherman, what could he do, | |
| When the cock crew—when the cock crew— | |
| But weep for his wickedness when the cock crew? * * * * * | 15 |
| The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| He was Fisher of Men, as foretold by the Word, | |
| With the Crown on his brow and the Cross on his shoe, | |
| When the cock crew—when the cock crew— | |
| In Flanders and Picardy when the cock crew! | 20 |
| |
| The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| ’Twas Mary the Mother in Heaven Who heard, | |
| And She grieved for the maidens and wives that they slew | |
| When the cock crew—when the cock crew— | |
| At Tirmonde and Aerschott when the cock crew! | 25 |
| |
| The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| The Babe in the Manger awakened and stirred, | |
| And He stretched out His arms for the playmates He knew— | |
| When the cock crew—when the cock crew— | |
| But the waters had covered them when the cock crew! | 30 |
| |
| The next time that Peter deniéd his Lord | |
| ’Twas Earth in her agony waited his word, | |
| But he sat by the fire and naught would he do, | |
| Though the cock crew—though the cock crew— | |
| Over all Christendom, though the cock crew! | 35 |
| |
| The last time that Peter deniéd his Lord, | |
| The Father took from him the Keys and the Sword, | |
| And the Mother and Babe brake his Kingdom in two, | |
| When the cock crew—when the cock crew— | |
| (Because of his wickedness) when the cock crew! | 40 |
| |
