Classic Poem

A SHOUT of laughter and of scorn,
A million jeering lips and eyes —
And in the sight of all men born
The wildest of earth's madmen dies!

Whose trust was put in empty words
To-day is numbered with the dead;
To-morrow crows and evil birds
Shall pluck those strange eyes from his head!

The fellows of this country clown
Are scattered (fool beyond belief!),
All blown away like thistledown,
Except a harlot and a thief.

And shall he shatter fates with these?
(He that would neither strive nor cry)
Or thunder through the Seven Seas?
Or shake the stars down from the sky?

Have mercy and humility
Become unconquerable swords,
That Caiaphas must tremblingly
Kneel with the world's imperial lords

Before this crazy carpenter —
This body writhing on a rod —
And worship in that bloody hair
The dreadful foolishness of God?

A shout of laughter and of scorn,
A million jeering lips and eyes —
And in the sight of all men born
The wildest of earth's madmen dies!