Good Friday by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker addresses Christ at the cross, questioning the absence of tears while recalling the grieving women, weeping Peter, the moved thief, and the darkened sun and moon. The closing prayer asks Christ to keep seeking his sheep and strike the speaker's heart, figured as rock.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Christian Devotional Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 158 words
First lines
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.
Genres
- Christian Devotional Poetry — The speaker directly addresses Christ, meditates on his crucifixion, and ends by praying for his continued care.
- Lyric Poetry — Four rhymed stanzas express the speaker's distress at remaining tearless and the plea for a change of heart.
Tags
crucifixion · prayer · spiritual numbness · repentance · divine mercy
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Good Friday is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Christian Devotional Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 158 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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