Crucifixion

"Weep not for Me, Mother,
in the grave I have life."

I.
The choir of angels glorified the great hour,
the heavens melted in flames.
He said to His Father: "Why hast Thou forsaken me?"
and to His Mother: "Oh, weep not for Me..."

II.
Mary Magdalene smote her breast and wept,
the disciple whom He loved turned to stone,
but where the Mother stood in silence
nobody even dared look.

--Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), Russian poet and resister


Image: Detail from Marc Chagall's White Crucifixion, from the Art Institute of Chicago