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Home  »  Poems by Oscar Wilde  »  6. Sonnet on the Massacre of the Christians in Bulgaria

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). Poems. 1881.

6. Sonnet on the Massacre of the Christians in Bulgaria

CHRIST, dost thou live indeed? or are thy bones

Still straightened in their rock-hewn sepulchre?

And was thy Rising only dreamed by Her

Whose love of thee for all her sin atones?

For here the air is horrid with men’s groans,

The priests who call upon thy name are slain,

Dost thou not hear the bitter wail of pain

From those whose children lie upon the stones?

Come down, O Son of God! incestuous gloom

Curtains the land, and through the starless night

Over thy Cross the Crescent moon I see!

If thou in very truth didst burst the tomb

Come down, O Son of Man! and show thy might,

Lest Mahomet be crowned instead of Thee!