A poem for Easter 2019

by Dave Bentley

He spoke of His Body in the bread

Broken before their eyes

He spoke of blood, crimson red

Shed before their eyes

They jockeyed for position

They fretted over promotion

While He lived before their eyes

He prayed for a different way

While they closed their eyes

He sought a way of escape

While they closed their eyes

But He would yield to His will

The promise of God would be fulfilled

He was seized before their eyes

He bore the stripes of every lash

Beaten bloody before their eyes

The cross lain heavy on His back

As He was led before their eyes

To a hill outside the gate

The price of sin would now be paid

He died before their eyes.

He breathed his last hung on a cross

Suffering there before their eyes

His life would satisfy the cost

Sacrificed before their eyes

The crowd would turn away

As darkness covered the day

It is finished before their eyes

The tomb, the guards, the heavy stone

Sealed before their eyes

The body lain, cold and alone

Dead before their eyes

The garden laying still and quiet

The fading sounds of the crowds and riot

As everyone departed with tear filled eyes

The day of rest had ended

As they opened in their eyes

The stone had been upended

As they saw with their own eyes

And the tomb was cold and bare

The broken body was not there

And they would see Him risen with their own eyes

—“Eyes Have Seen”

Dave Bentley (2019)