Page:A New Zealand verse (1906).pdf/276
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240
Prelude to “The Nazarene.”
Yet to my country I offer this deed, and my country accepts it:
Taking with joy from my hand her final release from oppression.
Peace be henceforth in her ways, and quietness rest in her borders.
Ever alone must I go, a sign, set apart among women;
Life overshadowed henceforth by the gloom of a bitter remembrance;
Haunted through long dark nights by visions of death ever present,
Haunted through long sad days by shuddering fear of the sunset;
Yet can I say, “It is well.” I live in the life of my people.
Great are the ways of Jehovah, and Israel has rest from her burden.
Taking with joy from my hand her final release from oppression.
Peace be henceforth in her ways, and quietness rest in her borders.
Ever alone must I go, a sign, set apart among women;
Life overshadowed henceforth by the gloom of a bitter remembrance;
Haunted through long dark nights by visions of death ever present,
Haunted through long sad days by shuddering fear of the sunset;
Yet can I say, “It is well.” I live in the life of my people.
Great are the ways of Jehovah, and Israel has rest from her burden.
CLXIX.
Prelude to “The Nazarene.”
I will not have his human story dimmed
And shadowed over by his divinity.
He was of us, all human, brother, friend;
He strove, was vanquished, strove and won—a Man.
And shadowed over by his divinity.
He was of us, all human, brother, friend;
He strove, was vanquished, strove and won—a Man.
About his path no cloud of angels hung,
Legions and legions watching him; no hand
Lifted him up above his sufferings.
He walked not on the clouds, but here with us,
Living obscurely on this common earth
Legions and legions watching him; no hand
Lifted him up above his sufferings.
He walked not on the clouds, but here with us,
Living obscurely on this common earth