Poem April 9, 1966 Issue

"FATHER, FORGIVE THEM"

Luke 23:34

Margaret Hovenden Ogden

They jeered at him:
"Save thyself," and "Come down from the cross."
"He saved others; himself he cannot save."
That he was on the cross was their continuum.
He bore their pain, their humiliation, their defeat,
But not their ignorance.
They did not know that he could save himself.
They did not understand he could come down.
They would not see the obedient stone, the folded winding sheet.
They would not hear the "Mary" in the garden,
Be healed, with Thomas, of the wound of doubt,
Bear the shepherd's staff that he would place
In Peter's hand, share the morning meal at Galilee—
On Olivet behold eternity.

Margaret Hovenden Ogden

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