I Have Fought a Good Fight

“Who art thou that comest with a steadfast face
Through the hushed arena to the buryingplace?”
“I am one whose footprints marked upon the sand
Cry in blood for vengeance on a guilty land.”

“How are these thy garments white as whitest snow
Though thy blood hath touched them in its overflow? “
“My blood cannot stain them, nor my tears make white;
One than I more mighty, He hath made them bright.”

“Say, do thy wounds pain thee open every one,
Wounds that now are glowing clearer than the sun?”
“Nay, they are my gladness unalloyed by grief;
Like a desert-fountain, or a long relief.”

“When the lion had thee in his deadly clasp,
Was there then no terror in thy stifled gasp?”
“Though I felt the crushing, and the grinding teeth,
He was with me ever, He who comforteth.”

“Didst thou hear the shouting, as of a great flood,
Crying out for vengeance, crying out for blood? “
“I heard it in silence, and was not afraid,
While for the mad people silently I prayed.”

“Did their hate not move thee ? art thou heedless then
Of the fear of children and the curse of men?”
“God looked down upon me from the heaven above,
And I did not tremble, happy in His love.”