<html xmlns:tei="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0"><body><h1 align="" class="head">The Field of Blood</h1><div class="stanza"><p class="line">STRANGER, this foreign field wherein you lie</p><p class="line">Has many human vessels fashioned true</p><p class="line">Under the Potter's Thumb. The Priests did buy</p><p class="line">It with the silver Traitor Judas threw</p><p class="line">Into the Treasury, as he confessed</p><p class="line">He had betrayed the Blood of Innocence.</p><p class="line">They bought the field for weary Strangers' rest;</p><p class="line">And you are Stranger thrice,—to War's offence.</p><p class="line">To death and to this land. The World allied</p><p class="line">To other Traitors long have seized Our Lord</p><p class="line">And by this War have Him re-crucified;</p><p class="line">And soldiers guard His Tomb with naked swords.</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">But for all this the stone shall roll away,</p><p class="line" style="text-indent:5%">And you shall rise with Him on Easter Day!</p></div><p>6th December, 1916.</p></body></html> · Great War