13Cockcrow
©2003 Gibbens/Weston

Judas and the Pharisees
In the court of Herod the King;
Pilate and the multitude
And the thick-skinned Roman troop;
And a cock that wakes and blinks
And starts to shake its wings
And cracks its beak as the dawn’s first sreak
Strikes the roof of the coop;
But all I hear is the silence of the lamb.
All I hear is silence.

Darkness over all the earth
From the sixth hour to the ninth
Casts a shadow on the horoscope
In the hands of a faraway king.
Tears in the eyes
Of men who once were blind,
And a stone uncut with hands
Flies out from the shepherd’s sling;
But all I see is a tree that blossoms red.
All I see is red.

Fragrant frankincense and myrrh
And ointment of great cost;
The cedar smell of sawdust
On the boy that the carpenter sends;
Bitterness of the Most High’s curse
On a man that the cross displays;
The savour of the food and wine
In an evening full of friends;
But all I taste is pardon on the lips of one forsaken.
All I taste is pardon.

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