RICHARD LE GALLIENNE

��869. The Second Crucifixion

T OUD mockers in the roaring street

• ^ Say Christ is crucified again :

Twice pierced His gospel-bearing feet, Twice broken His great heart in vain,

I hear, and to myself I smile,

For Christ talks with me all the while.

No angel now to roll the stone From off His unawaking sleep,

In vain shall Mary watch alone, In vain the soldiers vigil keep.

Yet while they deem my Lord is dead My eyes are on His shining head.

Ah ! never more shall Mary hear That voice exceeding sweet and low

Within the garden calling clear:

Her Lord is gone, and she must go.

Yet all the while my Lord I meet In every London lane and street.

Poor Lazarus shall wait in vain, And Bartimaeus still go blind;

The healing hem shall ne'er again Be touched by suffering humankind.

Yet all the while I see them rest, The poor and outcast, on His breast.

�� �