O, dear blue hills, that lie apart, And wait so patiently down there, Your peace takes hold upon my heart And makes its burden less to bear. THE FEET OF JUDAS Christ washed the feet of Judas! The dark and evil passions of his soul, His secret plot, and sordidness complete, His hate, his purposing, Christ knew the whole, And still in love he stooped and washed his feet. Christ washed the feet of Judas! Yet all his lurking sin was bare to him, His bargain with the priest, and more than this, In Olivet, beneath the moonlight dim, Aforehand knew and felt his treacherous kiss. Christ washed the feet of Judas! And so ineffable his love 'twas meet, That pity fill his great forgiving heart, And tenderly to wash the traitor's feet, Who in his Lord had basely sold his part. Christ washed the feet of Judas! And thus a girded servant, self-abased, Taught that no wrong this side the gate of heaven Was ever too great to wholly be effaced, And though unasked, in spirit be forgiven. And so if we have ever felt the wrong Of Trampled rights, of caste, it matters not, What e'er the soul has felt or suffered long, Oh, heart! this one thing should not be forgot: Christ washed the feet of Judas. William Stanley Braithwaite SANDY STAR AND WILLIE GEE Sandy Star and Willie Gee, Count 'em two, you make 'em three: Pluck the man and boy apart And you'll see into my heart. SANDY STAR I _Sculptured Worship_ The zones of warmth around his heart, No alien airs had crossed; But he awoke one morn to feel The magic numbness of autumnal frost. His thoughts were a loose skein of threads, And tangled emotions, vague and dim; And sacrificing what he loved He lost the dearest part of him. In sculptured worship now he lives, His one desire a prisoned ache; If he can never melt again His very heart will break. II _Laughing It Out_ He had a whim and laughed it out Upon the exit of a chance; He floundered in a sea of doubt-- If life was real--or just romance. Sometimes upon his brow would come A little pucker of defiance; He totalled in a word the sum Of all man made of facts and science. And then a hearty laugh would break, A reassuring shrug of shoulder; And we would from his fancy take A faith in death which made life bolder. III _Exit_ No, his exit by the gate Will not leave the wind ajar; He will go when it is late With a misty star. One will call, he cannot see; One will call, he will not hear; He will take no company Nor a hope or fear. We shall smile who loved him so-- They who gave him hate will weep; But for us the winds will blow Pulsing through his sleep. IV _The Way_ He could not tell the way he came, Because his chart was lost: Yet all his way was paved with flame From the bourne he crossed. He did not know the way to go, Because he had no map: He followed where the winds blow,-- And the April sap.