
Am I a stone and not a sheep
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy Cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?
Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;
Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.
Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.
~ Christina Rosetti (1830-1894)
I see the scourges tear His back,
I see the piercing crown,
And of that crowd who smite and mock,
I feel that I am one.
‘Twas I that shed the sacred blood,
I nailed Him to the tree,
I crucified the Christ of God,
I joined the mockery.
Yet not the less that blood avails,
To cleanse away my sin;
And not the less that cross prevails
To give me peace within.
~ Horatius Bonar
This song would have fit our church service last night. We heard dramatic readings from people in Jesus’s life, narrated by an “eyewitness” to the crucifixion. At the end of the service Jesus was dead, the church was in darkness and we all left in silence.
Now THOSE are beautiful poems! (the kind I would LIKE to write….)
Beautiful!
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