Son of Man, Son of God

And so that final gasp in dead of night

that brought the curtain down on hope;

that grinding fear of a cruel tomorrow

and the rising despair that death brings;

but this was no ordinary death of a man,

this was no passing of a common mortal;

though a man born of woman thou wast,

yet more than that wast thou, much more.


Thy time had been short and thy path
strewn with the sharp thorns cast
 by the cruel hands of cruel minds
impelled by even crueller hearts,
whose fear made sure thine end.

Thy life had been mapped since birth
and thy certain demise early foretold;
circumscribed by destiny's demands, 
by a heavenly mission forged for Earth,
by a purpose that marked out thy days,
by a Fate that held thee tight in her claw,
the march of days bore thee to thine end.


Son of God made God by the Father,
the Word made flesh by the Divine,
the instrument of Salvation and Rebirth
and the Grace of Redemption and Hope;
such a burden on such frail shoulders
and the Light of the World in one Man.


And so we mark thy coming and thy life
and the dark shadow of thy passing
and thy story is told and retold
stirring belief and stiffening faith
in the Son of Man, the Son of God!


Jesus was thy name, Christ thy title,
and the Messiah thy sacred calling.
Thou camest from God, wast born of woman
didst die and return to Heaven,
there to reign at God's side.