There, in one flash,
I saw the eternal tragedy, transformed
Into new terms. I saw the Christ once more,
Before the court of Pilate. Peter there
Denied Him once again; and, as for me,
Never has all my soul so humbly knelt
To God in Christ, as when that sad old man
Bowed his grey head, and knelt--at seventy years--
To acquiesce, and shake the world with shame.
_He shall not strive or cry_! Strange, is it not,
How nearly Scheiner--even amidst his hate--
Quoted the Prophets? Do we think this world
So greatly bettered, that the ancient cry,
"_Despised, rejected_," hails our God no more?
IV
(_Celeste writes to her father in his imprisonment at Siena_.)
Dear father, it will seem a thousand years
Until I see you home again and well.
I would not have you doubt that all this time
I have prayed for you continually. I saw
A copy of your sentence. I was grieved;
And yet it gladdened me, for I found a way
To be of use, by taking on myself
Your penance. Therefore, if you fail in this,
If you forget it--and indeed, to save you
The trouble of remembering it--your child
Will do it for you.
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