ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA
Who is that coming? Look! They are bearing a body again.
It’s a woman now, I think. And the very same young men
Who brought Ananias’ body we buried a moment ago.
Pat down the earth a little, the grass will sooner grow.
Yes, now I see it’s Sapphira. What did she do to win
Death at the hands of Peter, or was it her husband’s sin?
To which she agreed, or kept her husband’s secret in faith.
They sold a sheep, as I hear it, and suffered sudden death
For hiding part of the price, for a thing commendable:
Their boy is sick, and they needed money to get him well.
Just look how things are going: Cæsar the despot rules,
The state is his. For the rest, we are run by a pack of fools;
Zealots and mystics who say that the end of the world is near.
Tyranny around us, on top, under us dullness and fear.
Songs and the wine-cup banished, freedom throttled blue.
It’s the same here being a Greek, Persian, Median, Jew.
Roman sovereignty over us, merciless, cold and bright.
Fogs over the land of dust, day no different than night.