Via Crucis (Way of) The Cross))
If thou wouldst follow Me upon the way,
Take up My cross where I have laid it down.
Cast off thy life of luxury and ease,
Take to thy heart My hyssop and My crown.
Tread where I trod, each step a thing of pain,
Meeting no help nor succor on the road.
Strengthen thine ears to listen to the gibes
Flung at thee as thou fallest ‘neath thy load.
Thy friends will be the sad at heart and poor,
Those who are burdened with a life of shame,
Those sufferers who are the halt and blind,
Those to whom Beauty is a distant name.
Take up My cross where I have laid it down,
My mantle wrap about thee and My pain,
Give of My love to all thy fellow-men ~
This being done, I’ll not have died in vain!
~Hesper Le Gallienne
