Whenever there is silence around me,
By day or by night,
I am startled by the cry
“Take me down from the cross!”
The first time I heard it
I went out and searched
Till I found a man in the throes of crucifixion,
And I said, “I will take you down,”
And I tried to take the nails out of his feet,
But he said “Let be;
For I cannot be taken down
Till every man, every woman, and every child
Come together to take me down.”
And I said, “But I cannot bear your cry—
What can I do?”
And he said “Go about the world,
Telling everyone you meet
‘There is a man upon the cross.’”