Friday, April 3, 2026

Good Friday by Christina Rossetti

It's rather surprising that there are no (very) famous poems about Good Friday in English. The best I could find was this one from Christina Rossetti. I love Rossetti's poetry, but I hadn't encountered this one before. I think it's pretty good, though hardly one of her best.

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 blood’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.

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