Hath He appeared to Peter or the Ten;
Nor, save in thunderous terror, to blind Saul;
Save in an after-Gospel and late Creed
He is not risen indeed,—
Christ is not risen.
Or what if e'en, as runs the tale, the Ten
Saw, heard, and touched, again and yet again?
What if at Emmaüs' inn and by Capernaum's Lake
Came One the bread that brake—
Came One that spake as never mortal spake,
And with them ate and drank and stood and walked about?
Ah! 'some' did well to 'doubt'!
Ah! the true Christ, while these things came to pass,
Nor heard, nor spake, nor walked, nor dreamt, alas!
He was not risen, no—
He lay and moulder low,
Christ was not risen.
As circulates in some great city crowd
A rumour changeful, vague, importunate, and loud,
From no determined centre, or of fact,
Or authorship exact,
Which no man can deny
Nor verify;
So spread the wondrous fame;
He all the same
Lay senseless, mouldering, low.
He was not risen, no—
Christ was not risen!
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust;
As of the unjust, also of the just—
Yea, of that Just One too.
This is the one sad Gospel that is true—
Christ is not risen.
Page:The Poems and Prose remains of Arthur Hugh Clough, volume 2 (1869).djvu/117
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RELIGIOUS POEMS.
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