Your Sacrifice
Thomas Turner

I was there.
I saw what they did to you.
“Father……forgive them……
for they know not what they do.”
That was what you said
as your rich, red blood
dripped from your head.

I wanted to help you,
to somehow reach out to you,
but was not allowed to.
The guards held me back
and that’s where we all stood
as you suffered on that
hard slab of rotten wood.

I saw a beautiful man standing nearby,
one almost as beautiful as you.
I had seen you with him before.
He was always trying to tempt you
in the forest at night –
always trying to bait you,
attempting to fill you with fright.

Your blood-stained head finally fell
to your weak over-worked shoulders
for the very last time
as your life slowly faded away.
The man’s smile was coy and wide
as he watched you die.
He laughed to himself as both Maries cried.

I did not know
who he was at the time.
But oh, do I know now.
I watched what he turned into
and as he began to slither away.
He did not need to see anymore.
He was too cowardly to stay.

For hours and hours everyone watched.
I stood there so young and questioned,
“How could everyone just watch you die?”
With your eyes closed to us all,
I knew that you were gone.
I asked myself in sorrow, “Oh dear Lord,
what have these arrogant people done?”

What father would give up his only son
for people who did not believe in him?
Those people were not worth
the price that you ultimately paid.
This cold and ugly human race
was just not worth your death –
the death you took with such grace.

You gave up your life
for people who would not
have done the same for you –
the ultimate, unselfish sacrifice,
to save their souls from Hell
when it comes their time
to hear the sound of the death bell.

It was so hard for me to understand.
I was lost – my heart tormented.
For two days I wandered aimlessly,
until one night – that third night
after they had entombed you,
I was walking through the woods.
That’s when I saw you.

You saw me as well.
You came to me and whispered
that I should never tell –
tell anyone that I had seen you.
You held me so safe and tight
and told me that everything
was going to be all right.

You released me gently
and told me to go be a child,
not to worry about such things,
but to never forget that
you had died for my sins
and had risen again
so that Heaven would let me in.

I never spoke a word
to anyone, especially that next day
when everyone surrounded your opened tomb,
when they found your body gone.
I was the only person to witness
your wonderful resurrection
that everyone else had missed.

Now that I am older,
I know of your great gift –
of your unselfish, humble sacrifice
and of your miraculous resurrection.
You died for them. You died for me.
so that if we believed in you,
we could live for all eternity.

Return to Polis 2007