Remembrance

 

So from your high cross did you see afar

in the armour, swords,  the boots and horses,

the tramp of armies off to another war

the flags of battles and the hills of corpses?

 

So did you hear among our taunts and sneers

The echoing centuries of rage and hate?

the weeping lovers and the mothers' fears,

The curses hurled, the ever hardened heart?

 

And when they gave you bitter vinegar

could you taste upon parched lips the sting

of pain? the mad, the violated, those who  bear

sorrows drowned by the victors' idiot song?

 

Finally, when they bashed an iron nail

into each hand, and in your side a spear

aimed for your life, could your heart still feel

Compassion for the ones who slew you there?

 

An athlete’s sweat, a mother’s pain, are wounds

Of love: nothing lives without a sacrifice.

Not the bite of nails, it is love that binds

Your broken body to this killing place.