AM I A STONE (SONG OF THE WEEK)

AM I A STONE

(Poem from Christina Rossetti Good Friday 1866) Music by Ken E. Read. [Note: This is an art song, composed for a student's Senior Vocal Recital some years ago. I did this recording to help demonstrate the vocal. The lyrics are a powerful reflection on the author's lack of heartfelt repentance.)

Am I a stone and not a sheep,

That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,

To number drop by drop 

Thy blood's slow loss

And yet not weep?

 

Not so those women loved

Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;

Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;

Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon

Which his their faces in the starless sky,

A horror of great darkness at broad noon--

I, only I.

 

Yet give not o'er,

But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock

Greater than Moses, turn and look once more,

And smite a rock.