C. M. VERSCHOYLE 615

All tortures are less sharp than my desire. Let me have flints for bed, And thorns, such as once wove my Master’s crown, Spurring me on to share in His renown. And lo! I faint Beneath a common cross I cannot raise. Mankind might jeer, but on celestial praise Free from all envious taint I counted ; wherefore then this loneliness Weighted with death ? Give me the nails, the spear, oppress My soul with every pang till my last breath, And then, the victor’s wreath.
Yet I climbed still, the bitter words I spoke Fell into silence and no echoes woke ; But in my heart a small voice murmuring Whispered,—thy King Humbly exchanged celestial gain for loss, Requiring no place to lay Him down, No victor’s crown, But only wood enough to make a cross.
I bowed my head in shame, and upward went Slowly, beneath my burden bent ;
Deep in the snow my bleeding feet
Sank at each step, and on the sheet Of dazzling white left scarlet stains. My eyes grew blind, my trembling knees gave way, My body was a mass of fiery pains :
And still I rose and fell,
And struggled on a space,
Half dreaming broken words from far away,
616 C. M. VERSCHOYLE
The heavenward way,— The pains of hell,— And murmuring, weeping, falling, Upon my Master calling, Unconscious now of all save agony, I still endured, until I lay On the appointed place Upon the summit, faint and like to die.
So, I thought, heaven is won, Gone is the burden that so long I carried; Yet still the summoning angels tarried. I lay alone, Almost desiring back the fardel gone, That was my bliss and bale ; And so methought a thousand years Of silence passed. At last I raised my eyes to see Some angel that should bind my wounds and wipe my tears, But there was Calvary, And black and gaunt three crosses rose Untenanted, among the snows.
Then, deep within, the silence spoke,— Now thou hast left Gethsemane, Stretch thy rebellious limbs upon the tree, Giving thy body up for Me.
And I obeyed,
And laid My feet and hands to bear the stroke
Of piercing nails. And so I hung another thousand years.