The World’s Lover

My eyes are full of lonely mirth:Reeling with want and worn with scars,For pride of every stone on earth,I shake my spear at all the stars.

A live bat beats my crest above,Lean foxes nose where I have trod,And on my naked face the loveWhich is the loneliness of God.

Outlawed: since that great day gone by--When before prince and pope and queenI stood and spoke a blasphemy--'Behold the summer leaves are green.'

They cursed me: what was that to meWho in that summer darkness furled,With but an owl and snail to see,Had blessed and conquered all the world?

They bound me to the scourging-stake,They laid their whips of thorn on me;I wept to see the green rods break,Though blood be beautiful to see.

Beneath the gallows' foot abhorredThe crowds cry 'Crucify!' and 'Kill!'Higher the priests sing, 'Praise the Lord,The warlock dies'; and higher still

Shall heaven and earth hear one cry sentEven from the hideous gibbet height,'Praise to the Lord Omnipotent,The vultures have a feast to-night.'