CHRIST SPEAKS FROM A CRUCIFIX IN BRITTANY

M Y people, oh! my people, pass not by,
Or passing, turn again and look, for lo!
The shadow of my rough hewn cross and me
Hangs in the waning West, a great Plus Sign,
And bids you add us, add my cross and me,
To every joy and every pain of yours.
My arms outstretched, my weary head and feet
Nailed to the rugged cross are like the sign
The little children make to show that more,
And even more shall still be added to
The teacher's task until it all is done: —
And so, my people, look, and looking, learn —
For I would bid you add my cross and me
To make the fulness of the final sum, —
The great Plus Sign of pain and penitence, —
My cross and I are penitence and pain,
The great Plus Sign of joy and sacrifice, —
My cross and I are sacrifice and joy,
The great Plus Sign of service and of love, —
For we are service, and, above all, love.
My cross and I are love in everything,
For love is pain, and love is penitence,
And love is service, joy and sacrifice.
Then pass not by, my people, turn and look;
The great Plus Sign is fading in the West
Above a weary and a waiting world.
Before the shadow of my crucifix
Is lost in murky mist of setting sun,
Take it, and add it unto every day's
Appointed task, and let the great Plus Sign
Enrich your spirit with its priceless boon
Of pain and joy and love and sacrifice,
The sum of all that means my cross and me.
My people, oh! my people, turn and look,
The great Plus Sign is waning in the West.