The Second Crucifixion But through all the joy I knew-I only 3503 How the hostel of my heart lay bare and cold, Never, though you crown me with your gold, Frances Bannerman [18 THE SECOND CRUCIFIXION LOUD mockers in the roaring street I hear, and to myself I smile, For Christ talks with me all the while. No angel now to roll the stone Yet while they deem my Lord is dead Ah! never more shall Mary hear Her Lord is gone, and she must go. Yet all the while my Lord I meet Poor Lazarus shall wait in vain, And Bartimæus still go blind; Be touched by suffering humankind. Yet all the while I see them rest, No more unto the stubborn heart For Christ twice dead is dead indeed. So in the street I hear men say, Yet Christ is with me all the day. Richard Le Gallienne [1866 THE WINGED WORSHIPPERS GAY, guiltless pair, What seek ye from the fields of Heaven? Ye have no need of prayer, Ye have no sins to be forgiven. Why perch ye here, Where mortals to their Maker bend? Can your pure spirits fear The God ye never could offend? Ye never knew The crimes for which we come to weep. Penance is not for you, Blessed wanderers of the upper deep. To you 'tis given To wake sweet Nature's untaught lays, Beneath the arch of Heaven To chirp away a life of praise. Then spread each wing, Far, far above, o'er lakes and lands, And join the choirs that sing In yon blue dome not reared with hands. Or, if ye stay To note the consecrated hour, Teach me the airy way, And let me try your envied power. De Sheepfol' Above the crowd, On upward wings could I but fly, 'Twere Heaven indeed Through fields of trackless light to soar, And Nature's own great God adore. 3505 Charles Sprague [1791-1875] DE SHEEPFOL' DE massa ob de sheepfol', Oh den, says de hirelin' shepa’d: Dey's some black sheep an' ol' wedda's, De res', dey's all brung in." Den de massa ob de sheepfol', Dat guards de sheepfol' bin, Goes down in de gloomerin' meadows, Callin' sof', "Come in. Come in." Come in." Den up t'ro' de gloomerin' meadows, T'ro' de col' night rain and win', Wha'r de sleet fa' pie'cin' thin, De po' los' sheep ob de sheepfol', De po' los' sheep ob de sheepfol', Sarah Pratt McLean Greene [1856 THE LOST SHEEP ("THE NINETY AND NINE") THERE were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold; But one was out on the hills away, "Lord, thou hast here thy ninety and nine: Are they not enough for thee?" But the Shepherd made answer: ""Tis of mine And although the road be rough and steep I go to the desert to find my sheep." But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed, Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through Ere he found his sheep that was lost. Out in the desert he heard its cry Sick and helpless, and ready to die. "Lord, whence are those blood-drops all the way, Ere the Shepherd could bring him back.” But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, There rose a cry to the gate of heaven, Lost But Found 3507 And the angels echoed around the throne, "Rejoice, for the Lord brings back his own!" Elizabeth Cecilia Clephane [1830-1869] LOST BUT FOUND I WAS a wandering sheep, I did not love the fold; I did not love my Shepherd's voice, I would not be controlled. I was a wayward child, I did not love my home, I did not love my Father's voice, The Shepherd sought his sheep; They bound me with the bands of love; They spoke in tender love, They raised my drooping head; They gently closed my bleeding wounds, They washed my filth away, They made me clean and fair; They brought me to my home in peace, The long-sought wanderer. Jesus my Shepherd is, 'Twas he that loved my soul; 'Twas he that washed me in his blood, 'Twas he that made me whole; 'Twas he that sought the lost, |