A Man of Sorrows, and with Grief acquainted,
He bowed his beauteous head to the rude hands
Of Pilate's hireling bands;
And while beneath their cruel scourge he fainted,
Yet loved them -- he, the heaven-descended Dove!
Even with a Brother's love.
And when upon the infamous Cross they nailed him,
With Hatred's mockery, and Scorn's bitter smile,
Even then he cried, the while
Nature's extremest Agony assailed him, --
Father, thy mercy even for These renew!
They know not what they do.
And why, thus scorned and shamed, did he then trample
Such natural indignation down, as now
Pains, while we read, our brow?
That Brotherly Love, perfected by example,
Might crucify that emnity in men
Which crucified it then.
First published in The Weekly Register of Politics, Facts and General Literature, 19 July 1845;
and later in
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 8 July 1846;
The Empire, 19 March 1858; and
The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur edited by Elizabeth Perkins, 1984.
Note: this poem is also known by the title "Ecco Homo".
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
He bowed his beauteous head to the rude hands
Of Pilate's hireling bands;
And while beneath their cruel scourge he fainted,
Yet loved them -- he, the heaven-descended Dove!
Even with a Brother's love.
And when upon the infamous Cross they nailed him,
With Hatred's mockery, and Scorn's bitter smile,
Even then he cried, the while
Nature's extremest Agony assailed him, --
Father, thy mercy even for These renew!
They know not what they do.
And why, thus scorned and shamed, did he then trample
Such natural indignation down, as now
Pains, while we read, our brow?
That Brotherly Love, perfected by example,
Might crucify that emnity in men
Which crucified it then.
First published in The Weekly Register of Politics, Facts and General Literature, 19 July 1845;
and later in
The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, 8 July 1846;
The Empire, 19 March 1858; and
The Poetical Works of Charles Harpur edited by Elizabeth Perkins, 1984.
Note: this poem is also known by the title "Ecco Homo".
Author reference sites: Austlit, Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian Poetry Library
See also.
