On 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 '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)
Image: "Christus am Kreuz" , woodcut by Lovis Corinth, 1919