Stations of the Cross
My dear friends,
A few years ago I wrote a corona sonnet sequence (where the end of each poem is the first line of the next until the last poem’s final line which is the first line of the first poem) reflecting on the Stations of the Cross. I’ve long loved the Stations as a wonderfully imaginative way of entering into the suffering of Christ which set us free.
If you’d like to read them for yourself, they were first published in the Imaginative Conservative. But for your convenience, I have left the first poem below.
Station I “Take up your cross and follow me,” you said. We couldn’t know then exactly what you meant, But then they placed the thorns upon your head, And mocked you for their mirthless merriment. Condemned you did not fight their condemnation, While they passed you back and forth like a child’s game. Condemned for every person, you are Salvation, But asking who condemned you, I say my name. I stood in the crowd and chanted “Crucify!” I said your blood would be upon my hands. I drove the nails, I made the Savior cry. I left the Savior dying, it was my plan. Condemned you started on your dolorous road, The cross upon your back your heavy load.