Beyond the brook of Cedron,

They entered garden shade.

Judas knew the meeting place;

He knew the path they made.

Then lanterns cut the branches,

Torches named the night,

A band came armed for capture

Against the unresisting Light.

"Whom seek ye?"

The question crossed the ground.

They came with steel and numbers,

But authority shaped the sound.

"Whom seek ye?"

"Jesus of Nazareth."

The one they came to capture

Stepped forward knowing all.

The answer met the soldiers,

And backward men were thrown.

Judas stood among them,

His chosen side now shown.

Again the question sounded;

Again they named the man.

"If therefore ye seek me,

Let these go their way."

He did not lose the ones entrusted;

He placed himself between.

The Shepherd faced the weapons

And guarded all the sheep.

He asked release for those entrusted;

No follower paid the price.

He stepped into the binding

And let the others leave.

Peter drew the sword,

Cut Malchus' right ear down.

Courage without obedience

Struck wildly in the dark.

"Put up thy sword into the sheath;

The cup the Father gives,

Shall it not be received?"

The path would not be spared.

They bound him and led him

First to Annas' hall,

The family of Caiaphas,

Who had counseled death for all.

Peter followed at a distance;

Another opened the gate.

A young woman asked one question,

And courage changed its name.

"Art not thou also of this man's disciples?"

"I am not."

A charcoal fire was burning;

Servants warmed their hands.

Peter stood among them,

Trying to become unseen.

Inside, the priest demanded

His doctrine and his men.

Jesus named the open temple:

"Ask those who heard me then."

An officer struck his face:

"Answerest thou the high priest so?"

"If evil has been spoken,

Bear witness where it shows.

But if the word was truthful,

Why strike the one who spoke?"

Then Annas sent him bound away

Toward Caiaphas' court.

"Art not thou one of his disciples?"

"I am not."

A servant's kinsman studied him:

"Did I not see thee there,

Inside the garden with the man?"

The fire exposed his fear.

Peter denied a third time,

The last defense was gone.

Immediately,

The cock crew.