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The Adventures of the Holy Week
When our Lord came riding,
Through the midst of them,
The children ran and shouted
In Jerusalem,
Throwing down their palm-leaves,
Throwing up their caps;
All the babies crowed to him
From their mother's laps.
When the Lord came swiftly
Through the place of shades,
All the children thronged to Him,
Fresh from Herold's blades:
The sad dusk was full of them
Whom He did retrieve,
And first the smallest of them all
From the lap of Eve.
Socrates and Caesar
Though He met them there,
Though He went a thousand miles
To the bottom of hell-stair,
Yet He came again to them
When, turning from their play,
All those little Jewish souls
Observed the Sabbath day.
But within the Garden
He slept in double ward;
Armed and still and silent
Watched the Roman guard;
Watched the high prince Michael,
Astonished and aware
Of a new thing moving
As dawn filled the air.
And within the Chamber
He slept in single ward;
All the rock was conscious
Of the heavenly guard.
From the air within the air
A soft wind came,
And above the silent head
Burned the tongues of flame.
Charles Williams
S. Silas the Martyr Church Papers
S. Silas' Church, Kentish Town
March-April 1923, page 15
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