Lent 15 - poem

So far this Lent my musings have been somewhat abstract and not really focused on the lead up to Easter.   I hope you will therefore forgive me for this somewhat brutal change of tack.  A poem I wrote in 2012.

Crucified

The lash.
I could have borne the lash’s pain
As jagged barbs of metal
Ploughed into my furrowed flesh
Again, again, again.
But what I could not bear,
The hatred in your eyes
When everything that I have done for you         
Was wisdom, love and life

The nails.
I could have borne the smash of broken bones,
The sinews tearing, arteries spewing forth.
But what I could not bear
Were words accompanying the hammer’s blow;
The jeers and sneers and lies
From those I know
And love and like and understand,
Towards whom I refused to lift my hand.

Abandonment,
Not torture, brought the end.
Forsaken, universally despised.
The source of all I AM , eternal friend
Has turned away – so what point now my life?
As darkness falls I give it all away
Betrayed and cast aside without a name.
A broken heart has proved to be more lethal
Than the systematic slaughter of my frame.