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The Spike or Victoria University College Review 1932

You Suffered

page 20

You Suffered

"Christianity has not failed—it has never been tried."

G. B. Shaw et alii.

They might have crucified you, Lord Jesus.
It would have been more merciful,
But God only knoweth the wickedness of men.
They dressed you in spats and a tophat Instead.
And sent you to church on Sundays,
Dirtied your soul with Business
And struck you with the last curse of men, Respectability.

What did you do in the Great War, Nazarene?
The men awaited your aid in the trenches,
But you were a general behind the lines,
Smug and directing the regiments, From safety.
"Christ sends you forth to battle,"
"Christ is your captain to-day"
And the men grew to hate their commander, Jesus Christ.

But they reserved you a last agony, Christ Jesus,
(My God, why hast thou forsaken me?)
The horror of the Last Peace.
In strike and in revolt you were there Insufferably.
Always you were on the side of the master,
The God of the Counter-revolution,
Until the mercy of death blessed you, Lord Jesus.

—C. G. W.