And on the faces dark of all around, Fidus saw Hate he could not understand. Then up a vision rose of Nazareth When evening fell; a Boy of beauty rare, With a strange Shadow on His lovely face, Standing with arms outstretched in prayer, The glory of the setting sun upon His head. But long and grim the shadow of a Cross Before Him as He stood. Then to his mind Came swift the stories of the mighty King, And then the promise: “Thou shalt build His throne.” Alas! the long and wav’ring years had swept The dreams of youth away; but still remained The love, that hungered now to feel the hand Within his own of Mary’s Son. The day Rose brightly in the East. At Pilate’s door He met by chance a captain he had known In Jaffa, who bade him attentive wait Within the hall, amongst the soldiers there. But soon a tumult rose without the doors; The Wonder-Man was coming to be judged. Then, as the cries increased, his friend came in. “Make thou a Cross,” he said, “We have but two And, if I judge aright, three shall be sent Beyond the wall this day to Calvary.” No more of shouting Fidus heard, for he Alone made ready a great Cross of wood; And, that his craftsman skill should be confessed, He made it well, both strong and workmanlike. “’Tis fit,” he said, “to serve a King,” and smiled At his grim jest; then went he on his way. Out in the streets the crowd was surging on Along the way that leads to Calvary’s hill. And o’er it Fidus saw his Cross; and then, Sometimes, a thorn-crowned head with waving hair Blood-clotted now, and stained a deeper hue; And Hate seemed in the air vibrating round. When sudden, like a bell that sweetly rings Above a storm, and seems a messenger Of Peace and Love, there woke upon his soul From out the sleeping past, some prophet words: “For homage goes with hate, and hate shall be The measure of the homage that shall swell In pæans great around the royal throne.” The surging crowd hid from his eyes the things He did not care to see, but faint he heard The hammer strokes, that seemed to drive the nails Deep in his heart. Then turned he to a man Who silent stood beside him, and he said: “A stranger I, from Jaffa, yesternight I came. This man? What evil hath He done?” “I know not any wrong that He hath done,”