“My Rabbi!”
A kiss of affection betrayed
By the clanking of swords and clubs
Not far behind me.
Though the only crime you committed
Was speaking the Truth,
We could bear it no longer.
And so, as your blood and sweat mix
In a holy plea for grace,
I hand you over to the mob
Even as I hand my loyalty to Mammon.
But now (oh now and forever!)
My lips taste the eternal reminder
Of my faithless betrayal.
For a moment sweet as sugarcane
Caesar’s silver jingles in my pocket,
But soon the sugar turns to the bitterest wormwood
Burning in my bankrupt heart.
Can my debt be cancelled?
Is there redemption to be found
For even such a man as I?
I have sold out my King for cash
And my Savior for moth’s food.
Oh, how great a fool!
What if this very night
My soul is required of me?
But wait! what is this cry
Reaching my ears so far above
The din of the crowd?
Amongst the jeers and the cheers, the mocking words
From foolish men like myself, comes the prayer,
A kiss of affection betrayed
By the clanking of swords and clubs
Not far behind me.
Though the only crime you committed
Was speaking the Truth,
We could bear it no longer.
And so, as your blood and sweat mix
In a holy plea for grace,
I hand you over to the mob
Even as I hand my loyalty to Mammon.
But now (oh now and forever!)
My lips taste the eternal reminder
Of my faithless betrayal.
For a moment sweet as sugarcane
Caesar’s silver jingles in my pocket,
But soon the sugar turns to the bitterest wormwood
Burning in my bankrupt heart.
Can my debt be cancelled?
Is there redemption to be found
For even such a man as I?
I have sold out my King for cash
And my Savior for moth’s food.
Oh, how great a fool!
What if this very night
My soul is required of me?
But wait! what is this cry
Reaching my ears so far above
The din of the crowd?
Amongst the jeers and the cheers, the mocking words
From foolish men like myself, comes the prayer,
“Father
forgive
them,
for they know not
what
they
do.”
