Good Friday / Christina Rossetti

Good Friday

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 Rossetti (1830-1894)
from The Prince's Progress,  and other poems, 1866

[Poem is in the public domain worldwide.]

Christina Rossetti biography

"Good Friday" read by Jean Aked. Courtesy YouTube.