“From the Cross” – a Good Friday poem

A poem written by Lydia Hartwell and spoken during our Good Friday service at Gold Hill. It is based on the seven things Jesus said while on the cross, and is in three parts, each to be accompanied by a portion of the Gospel stories of Jesus’ death.

Father
They taunt me
divide up my clothes
I know that you see
but why aren’t you close?

They don’t understand us
they don’t really see
the choice that is happening
our choice to offer me

in place of their failures
and all hidden shame
They don’t understand
this means a chance to start again

Some of them seeking
knowing they’re lost
it is for them
that I’ve counted the cost

I’m hurting
I’m broken
I don’t know how long
this pain I can carry
please hear your son

But I trust in your goodness
right now in this pain
Into your hands
I commit myself again

Father
My Father
Where have you gone
I’m lonely, I’m lost
things seem undone

Forsaken, forgotten
we feel so apart
abandoned, alone,
It’s breaking my heart

Father
I watch them
The people who come and who go
but mother, dear mother
is watching the show

with pain in her eyes
and fear in her heart
I must speak to her
and show her her part

And my faithful friend John
who stands by her side
I will bring them together
my love will reside

This is the moment
The hour has come
now is the time
for shame to come undone

They don’t understand it
They can’t really see
It is finished
I claim the victory.