Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.
The Everlasting ContradictionJohn Gould Fletcher
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From Judas: he gave them with a grin.
Today, O Christ, I kneel before your cross.
“I am starving.” I answered, “First, to bed.”
Today, O Christ, I kneel before your cross.
I flung a brick at her. Then, as was meet,
I bore her to the house of Caiphas.
Today, O Christ, I kneel before your cross.
He beat me, for the ewer trembled so.
Today, O Christ, I kneel before your cross.
You hang there motionless and dead long while—
In your eyes, nothing; on your lips, a smile.
The world is rotten: would ’twould crash and pile
Upon me kneeling yet before your cross!