"But I have told now what I did not see, For it was midnight when this came to pass-- Deep in the garden of Gethsemane, A little paradise of olive trees Where oft the Master loved to be retired; A few disciples only were with Him there, His chosen apostles; and not all of these, For one of them a little while before Had gone out from among them--well foreknown By Jesus wherefore, it was to betray His Lord and Master to His enemies! Judas, the name of this one was, and he Had given it for a sign to those that sought To lay hands on our Master, 'Whomsoever I kiss, that same is He; make sure of Him.' So Judas, as in all sweet loyalty, Came up to Jesus with his proffered kiss Of salutation; but the Lord would not Receive it, till He had first made known to all His understanding of its treachery: 'Judas,' He said, 'betrayest thou with a kiss The Son of Man?' When Judas had his sign Given, he fell back among the band he had brought. Then was it that the Lord asked them, not yet Enough assured or haply stunned with fear, 'Whom seek ye?' and declared Himself to them. So Judas was of those who prostrate fell Recoiled before the glory of the Lord Flashing in sudden glimpse from out the shame Like lightning disimprisoned from a cloud-- Foretasted retribution of his crime! Thus much not as eye-witness I relate, But having heard it from eye-witnesses So many and so close upon the time That half it seems as if myself had seen it. "I saw when, with the breaking of the dawn, After a night to Jesus of such strain And pain in agony and bloody sweat, And sorrow of heart for human traitorhood, And disappointment in his hopes from friends, And dreadful bodings of the doom so nigh, And being rudely hustled to and fro Between one jurisdiction and another, Everywhere treated with all contumely Both of accusing and reviling word And of gross act in blasphemous affront To the image of God in man--were He but man!-- But He being God, conceive the blasphemy Of spitting in that heavenly human face Divine, and smiting Him in mockery, Blindfolded not to see whence came the blow, Then bidden prophesy, 'Who struck thee, Christ?' (The very slaves there smote Him with their hands)-- I say that after such a night to Him Who condescended to be human, God Although He was, and felt all human woe, I saw when, morning having broken, they Led Jesus last to Pilate in his hall. There He stood lamblike, so pathetical In His meek majesty I could have wept For heart-break in sheer pity of His state, But that the fountain was dried up in me Of blesséd tears, and I consumed myself In anguish that fed on my soul like fire."