The Martyr by Herman Melville
Good Friday was the day
Of the prodigy and crime,
When they killed him in his pity,
When they killed him in his prime
Of clemency and calm--
When with yearning he was filled
To redeem the evil-willed,
And, though conqueror, be kind;
But they killed him in his kindness,
In their madness and their blindness,
And they killed him from behind.
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand;
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand.
He lieth in his blood--
The father in his face;
They have killed him, the Forgiver--
The Avenger takes his place,
The Avenger wisely stern,
Who in righteousness shall do
What the heavens call him to,
And the parricides remand;
For they killed him in his kindness,
In their madness and their blindness,
And his blood is on their hand.
There is sobbing of the strong,
And a pall upon the land;
But the People in their weeping
Bare the iron hand;
Beware the People weeping
When they bare the iron hand
::
hat tip goes to Sorn, one of the many great regulars over at TNC's blog on The Atlantic. (there's an open thread at noon everyday and a tradition of posting poetry on a Friday.)
more later.
LB
For those interested, that poem is the tip of a very large iceberg. It's about Abraham Lincoln's assassination on Good Friday and the future of the South. Bill Moyers did a show on it a year ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04102009/watch.html
The irony of "the People" and the "they," which has always been a problem of readings of the Good Friday story, is that John Wilkes Booth also thought of himself as an avenger acting on behalf of the former.