I deemed I saw him plead his piteous cause,
Him that a heartless world unheard would ban,—
Would hurl to darkest doom,—him that the laws
Of earth and heaven would hold since time began
Basest of mortals,—whom defend who can?
For he for filthy bribe betrayed and sold
His friend, the heaven-born friend of friendless man.
Methought he gazed upon the ground, and told
Through his thick-falling tears his misery multifold.
"I saw," said he, "in him a boundless store
Of wisdom, wonderful and God-bestowed,
Surpassing all that e'er had been before;
He held dominion in his hands, and owed
The treasures of all time: to him the road
That leadeth to high place and circumstance
Was open free, nay beckoning, wide and broad,
But all uncared of him: he would not glance
At earthly gain, unless with angered eyes askance.
"He blessed the multitude with bread from heaven.
Though some were sinners, some but scorned his ways;
And I, his servant, who my life had given
To serve him, had to live laborious days
Upon the ocean paths and harbor quays;
He had but to command and he could call
Coin from the fish's mouth, fish from the sky,
For earth and sea were his, and heaven withal;
But nay—'twas mine to slave like other hapless thrall!
