 | Poems (1895) |  |
111
XLI. THE CRUCIFIXION.
To an illustrious teacher of men; upon his non-vindication
of Shelley from the aspersions of a common-place babbler.
All his pain'd life was nail'd and crucified
By selfish men, of hearts conventional:
And since his death, he many deaths hath died
On dull men's tongues; his godhead full denied,
His memory scourged, and rudely vilified,
And pierced by ruffians in its holy side.
Then should'st thou not, thou Man Imperial!
Whose thoughts do govern thought amidst us all,
Be worse than Pilate; in not being the thrall
Of place, as he, and yet abandoning
The sacred name of Shelley, deified,
To vulgar mockery, without championing
His spirit divine. O, marvel, shame and loss:
Our Pilate is turn'd Jew, and strains the Cross!
1839.
| Poems (1895) | |