BARRABAS
In the cold and damp I waited there
Prepared to meet my fate.
A cruel cross was waiting there
Just outside the gate.
It was early in the morning,
The sun was barely up,
When suddenly a cry I heard
I knew my time was up.
A mob had gathered somewhere near to where I lay
And angry voices shouted
And with fear I listened
To what they had to say.
I held my breath and listened
As I heard them shout my name.
I knew my time had come
When I heard “On us will be the blame”
“Barrabas” the voices hollered
Then “Let him be crucified”
And then “His blood be on us and our children”
And I knew my life would end.
And all at once I heard him
And I knew he’d come for me.
His heavy tread it echoed
As he strolled along the way.
The keys he held, they jangled,
As to my cell he came.
And when it clicked with in the lock
My heart within me sunk.
I thought that I was ready.
I knew this day would come.
But now its here I’m petrified
At what I’m sure’s to come
The hinges groaned while opening
as the door comes slowly open.
And the sullen guards just stand there
To escort me to my doom.
Without a word they turn
And lead me down the hall.
And when we reach the gateway
He turns and says “Your free.”
I must have stood there blinking
Unable to believe my ear.
Because with a growl he orders
“Your free, get out of here.”
“But why” I stammered
As I withdrew a pace
And with an evil grin he answered
“The Nazarenes to take your place.”
So away from there I ran
I set a fiendish pace
Like all the host of hell are after me,
To drag me to their place.
How long I ran and where
I never can repeat.
But when I came back to myself
I stood at Calverys feet.
It was there that I first saw him,
The one who took my place.
As He hung upon my cross
I looked into His face.
The beating He received was brutal.
As I gazed upon his face
He hardly seemed a man.
That should have been my place.
But it was His eyes that captured me,
That look of love and grace.
That look He had it haunted me
and held me in my place.
And there it was He captured me,
That one who took my place
The one whose every act was love,
And every word was grace.
_____. ____
____David E. Cloud____
(10/20/00)
copyright david cloud 2000 used by permission
