And a third said, "Thinkest thou with this price to buy world
glory?"
Then said a fourth, "Behold, how he smiles! Can such pain be
forgiven?"
And I answered them all, and said:
"Remember only that I smiled. I do not atone--nor sacrifice--nor
wish for glory; and I have nothing to forgive. I thirsted--and I
besought you to give me my blood to drink. For what is there can
quench a madman's thirst but his own blood? I was dumb--and I
asked wounds of you for mouths. I was imprisoned in your days and
nights--and I sought a door into larger days and nights.
And now I go--as others already crucified have gone. And think not
we are weary of crucifixion. For we must be crucified by larger
and yet larger men, between greater earths and greater heavens."