The Wife of Judas Iscariot

The wife of judas iscariot
Went out into the night,
She thought she heard a voice crying:
Was it to left or right?

She went forth to the Joppa Gate,
Three crosses hung on high.
The one was a thief's, the other a thief's,
The third she went not nigh.

For still she heard the voice crying:
Was it to right or left?
Or was it but a wind of fear
That blew her on bereft?

She went down from the Joppa Gate
Into the black ravine.
She climbed up by the rocky path
To where a tree was seen.

And 'What, sooth, do I follow here?
Is it my own mad mind?
Judas! Judas Iscariot!'
She called upon the wind.

'Judas! Judas Iscariot!'
She crept beneath the tree.
What thing was it that swung there,
Hung so dolorously?

'Judas! Judas Iscariot!'
She touched it with her hand.
The leaves shivered above her head,
To make her understand.

'Judas! Judas! my love! my lord!'
Her hands went o'er it fast,
From foot to thigh, from thigh to throat,
And stopped-there-at last.

'Judas! Judas! what has He done,
The Christ you followed so!'
More than the silver left on him
Made answer to her woe.

'Judas! Judas! what has He done!
O has it come to this!
The Kingdom promised has but proved
For you a soul-abyss!

'Was He the Christ and let it be?'
She cut him from the limb,
And held him in her arms there
And wept over him.

'None in the world shall ever know
Your doubts of Him but I!
"Traitor! traitor! and only traitor!"
Will ever be their cry!

'None in the world shall ever know—
But I who am your wife!'
She flung the silver from his purse:
It made a bitter strife.

It rattled on the ringing rocks
And fell to the ravine.
'Was He the Christ and let it be?'
She moaned, still, between.

She held him in her arms there,
And kissed his lips aright,
The lips of Judas Iscariot,
Who hanged himself that night.