"NOW when you come to Weeping Cross" The priest said, the priest said, "You shall kneel bare-kneed on the wounding stones As you knelt at the dead man's head. "And when you have prayed at Weeping Cross" The priest hissed, the priest hissed, "You shall kiss the mould where nettles spring, As the dead man's face was kissed. "A kiss for the chilling kiss you gave Before you used your knife; A kiss for the burning kiss you gave Beseeching him back to life. "Go, bare your body at Weeping Cross; And pray each passer-by To cast a stone for love of your soul, Whether you live or die." "I'll weep and pray for a night and a day" The woman said, the woman said; "But weeping brings no ease to me Since my lap held that head. "I sealed my daughter's shame with a knife When I kept my daughter's tryst: It is but just that I should die Who kissed as Judas kissed." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FIGHTING RACE [FEBRUARY 16, 1898] by JOSEPH IGNATIUS CONSTANTINE CLARKE JOHN BROWN'S BODY by CHARLES SPRAGUE HALL THE DEATH-BED by SIEGFRIED SASSOON TO ONE WHO ASKED by KENNETH SLADE ALLING THE LAY OF THE LEVITE by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN TO SIR JOHN SPENSER KNIGHTE, ALDERMAN OF LONDON by RICHARD BARNFIELD SILVIO'S COMPLAINT: A SONG, TO A FINE SCOTCH TUNE by APHRA BEHN |