  Behold, some of the watch came into the city and told unto the Chief Priests all the things that were come to pass, and ... they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying: Say, His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we slept.—Matthew. I was a Roman soldier in my prime; Now age is on me and the yoke of time. I saw your Risen Christ, for I am he Who reached the hyssop to Him on the tree; And I am one of two who watched beside The Sepulchre of Him we crucified. All that last night I watched with sleepless eyes; Great stars arose and crept across the skies. The world was all too still for mortal rest, For pitiless thoughts were busy in the breast. The night was long, so long, it seemed at last I had grown old and a long life had passed. Far off the hills of Moab, touched with light, I saw Jerusalem all wrapped in cloud, Stretched like a dead thing folded in a shroud. Once in the pauses of our whispered talk, I heard a something on the garden walk. Perhaps it was a crisp leaf lightly stirred— Perhaps the dream-note of a waking bird. Then suddenly an angel burning white Came down with earthquake in the breaking light, And rolled the great stone from the Sepulchre, Mixing the morning with a scent of myrrh. And lo, the Dead had risen with the day: The Man of Mystery had gone His way! Years have I wandered, carrying my shame; Now let the Tooth of Time eat out my name. For we, who all the Wonder might have told, Kept silence, for our mouths were stopt with gold. |
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