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Home  »  Poems of Places An Anthology in 31 Volumes  »  The “Christus”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Germany: Vols. XVII–XVIII. 1876–79.

Ober-Ammergau

The “Christus”

By Julia C. R. Dorr (1825–1913)

The Passion Play of Ober-Ammergau

HOW does life seem to thee? I long to look

Into thine inmost soul and see if thou

Art even as other men! O, set apart

And consecrate so long to purpose high,

Canst thou take up again our common lot

And live as we live? Canst thou buy and sell,

Stoop to small needs and petty ministries,

Work and get gain, eat, drink, and soundly sleep,

Sin and repent as these thy brethren do?

Unto what name less sacred answerest thou

Who hast been called the Christ of Nazareth?

Thou who hast worn the awful crown of thorns,

Hanging like him upon the dreadful tree,

Canst thou, uncrowned, forget thy royalty?