Calvary (Robinson, set by J. Duke) (The Lied and Art Song Texts Page: Texts and Translations to Lieder, mélodies, canzoni, and other classical vocal music)


Friendless and faint, with martyred steps and slow, 
Faint for the flesh, but for the spirit free, 
Stung by the mob that came to see the show, 
The Master toiled along to Calvary; 
We gibed him, as he went, with houndish glee, 
Till his dimmed eyes for us did overflow; 
We cursed his vengeless hands thrice wretchedly, -- 
And this was nineteen hundred years ago. 

But after nineteen hundred years the shame 
Still clings, and we have not made good the loss 
That outraged faith has entered in his name. 
Ah, when shall come love's courage to be strong! 
Tell me, O Lord -- tell me, O Lord, how long 
Are we to keep Christ writhing on the cross!

Authorship

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)

The Children of the Night

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

John Woods Duke (1899-1984)

Four Poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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