“On his Cross”

CROSSPIECE — CHRONOS

How long has he been hanging there,
eyes askance, as though he cannot bear
to look on us?

A hundred years? A thousand? Two?
He’ll have much more to bear
before we’re through with him.

UPRIGHT — KAIROS

What do crucifixes show?
The dying or the death?

Did his eyes close
when the lids gave in to gravity
on breathing out his final breath?

Has he shuttered them
against the pain?

Or are they piercing down and right
where the penitent thief and I forever
beg him to Remember us!

to say Today
you will be with me in Paradise?

Clare Bryden “On his Cross”, The Merton Journal, Vol. 33 No.1, Eastertide 2026.