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BARABBAS, to his fellow-prisoners. BARABBAS is my name, | |
| Barabbas, the Son of Shame, | |
| Is the meaning I suppose; | |
| I ’m no better than the best, | |
| And whether worse than the rest | 5 |
| Of my fellow-men, who knows? | |
| |
| I was once, to say it in brief, | |
| A highwayman, a robber-chief, | |
| In the open light of day. | |
| So much I am free to confess; | 10 |
| But all men, more or less, | |
| Are robbers in their way. | |
| |
| From my cavern in the crags, | |
| From my lair of leaves and flags, | |
| I could see, like ants, below, | 15 |
| The camels with their load | |
| Of merchandise, on the road | |
| That leadeth to Jericho. | |
| |
| And I struck them unaware, | |
| As an eagle from the air | 20 |
| Drops down upon bird or beast; | |
| And I had my heart’s desire | |
| Of the merchants of Sidon and Tyre | |
| And Damascus and the East. | |
| |
| But it is not for that I fear; | 25 |
| It is not for that I am here | |
| In these iron fetters bound; | |
| Sedition! that is the word | |
| That Pontius Pilate heard, | |
| And he liketh not the sound. | 30 |
| |
| What think ye, would he care | |
| For a Jew slain here or there, | |
| Or a plundered caravan? | |
| But Cæsar!—ah, that is a crime, | |
| To the uttermost end of time | 35 |
| Shall not be forgiven to man. | |
| |
| Therefore was Herod wroth | |
| With Matthias Margaloth, | |
| And burned him for a show! | |
| Therefore his wrath did smite | 40 |
| Judas the Gaulonite, | |
| And his followers, as ye know. | |
| |
| For that cause and no more, | |
| Am I here, as I said before; | |
| For one unlucky night, | 45 |
| Jucundus, the captain of horse, | |
| Was upon us with all his force, | |
| And I was caught in the fight. | |
| |
| I might have fled with the rest, | |
| But my dagger was in the breast | 50 |
| Of a Roman equerry; | |
| As we rolled there in the street, | |
| They bound me, hands and feet; | |
| And this is the end of me. | |
| |
| Who cares for death? Not I! | 55 |
| A thousand times I would die, | |
| Rather than suffer wrong! | |
| Already those women of mine | |
| Are mixing the myrrh and the wine | |
| I shall not be with you long. | 60 |
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