Versos English John B. Tabb Christ and the Pagan

English poem

Christ and the Pagan

by (1845–1909)

Listen in the reader

I had no God but these, The sacerdotal Trees, And they uplifted me. “I hung upon a tree.”

The sun and moon I saw, And reverential awe Subdued me day and night. “I am the perfect light.”

Within a lifeless Stone— All other gods unknown— I sought Divinity. “The Corner-Stone am I.”

For sacrificial feast I slaughtered man and beast, Red recompense to gain. “So I, a Lamb, was slain.

Yea; such My hungering Grace That where ev’r My face Is hidden, none may grope Beyond eternal Hope.”