Poem by Richard Watson Gilder

The Celestial Passion. Part 2. 6. Holy Land

This is the earth he walked on; not alone
⁠     That Asian country keeps the sacred stain;
     ⁠Ah, not alone the far Judæan plain,
⁠     Mountain and river! Lo, the sun that shone
On him, shines now on us; when day is gone
     ⁠The moon of Galilee comes forth again
     ⁠And lights our path as his; an endless chain
     ⁠Of years and sorrows makes the round world one.
The air we breathe, he breathed—the very air
     ⁠That took the mold and music of his high
     ⁠And godlike speech. Since then shall mortal dare
With base thought front the ever-sacred sky—
⁠     Soil with foul deed the ground whereon he laid
⁠     In holy death his pale, immortal head! 

1. The New Day. Part 4. 16. “Love Is Not Bond to Any Man”
2. The New Day. Part 3. 29. The Unknown Way
3. The Celestial Passion. Part 2. 4. Cost
4. The New Day. Part 4. 2. The Mirror
5. The New Day. Part 4. 17. “He Knows Not the Path of Duty”

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