Classic Poem

What means this vain ideal of our Lord,
With " Orpheus" underwritten? Couldst thou see
With eyes of faith the Incarnate Deity,
That faith a nobler title would accord
Than this, whereat no Christian fancy warms;
Thou would'st not score the mythic harper's name
Beneath the fallen head and outstretch'd arms,
Nor seem to blink our dear Redeemer's claim
To His own cognizance and proper fame;
The sorrowing manhood of the King of kings,
The double nature, and the death of shame,
The tomb — the rising — are substantial things,
Irrelevant to Orpheus; What hath made
Thy wisdom match Messias with a shade?