A Corona of Thorns: Sonnets for the Stations of the Cross

4. Christ Addresses the Women of Jerusalem

He turns our tears to those for whom he weeps:

The victims of war’s purple testament.

A woman’s tenderness of heart he seeks

To see the price of power, and lament.

The tree he bears, though dead, is green with hope

Of life lived out in meek humility,

And violence overcome by love’s wide scope,

And ending of the sword’s futility.

We weep beside the way of Calvary’s cross,

Yet set aside our crosses for the way

Of swords drawn to revenge our pain and loss,

And yet more swords in yet a drier day.

‘Neath our false tears he falls yet full of hope

And naked waits for hate’s uplifting stroke.