3 OCTOBER 1952, Page 12

Nicodemus

I doubted, yet I wondered. The attesting sun in turn Shuts out that darker heaven where constellations btirn. I could not trust their witness, or dream they saw aright, But when the streets were empty l found his door by night.

I knocked, and it was opened. I saw him, and I heard From human lips at midnight the superhuman Word, Its own eternal witness, the Word whence all began, The Word that chose for dwelling the broken heart of man.

They slew him, and they slay him, and yet he is not dead. Still in the crowd I hunger, for Christ, the living bread. Still in the dark I.stumble thro' their ephemeral light, Beyond their last denial, to find his door by night.

ALFRED NOYES.