Jesus falls the second time
He falls a second time, as if the earth
Were reaching for His flesh, as if the dark
Were flowing from the tomb to clutch his heart –
How close is death when evil does its work
Listen then, a hush falls on the crowd
They wait to see Him rise again, or fail,
The innocent, the great, the low, the proud –
The self-important laugh, the others wail
And sigh, for then he grasps the cruel beam
On which He is to die, and as a staff
He uses it to struggle up, then on
Toward Golgotha — and who would dare to laugh?
As by the cross He would rise up and go
I would by death the cure of dying know
