The Second Crucifixion

Loud mockers in the roaring street         Say Christ is crucified again:     Twice pierced His gospel-bringing feet,         Twice broken His great heart in vain.     I hear, and to myself I smile,     For Christ talks with me all the while.     No angel now to roll the stone         From off His unawaking sleep,     In vain shall Mary watch alone,         In vain the soldiers vigil keep.     Yet while they deem my Lord is dead     My eyes are on His shining head.     Ah! never more shall Mary hear         That voice exceeding sweet and low     Within the garden calling clear:         Her Lord is gone, and she must go.     Yet all the while my Lord I meet     In every London lane and street.     Poor Lazarus shall wait in vain,         And Bartimaeus still go blind;     The healing hem shall ne'er again         Be touched by suffering humankind.     Yet all the while I see them rest,     The poor and outcast, in His breast.     No more unto the stubborn heart         With gentle knocking shall He plead,     No more the mystic pity start,         For Christ twice dead is dead indeed.     So in the street I hear men say,     Yet Christ is with me all the day.