> There's a hymn, "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" that is one of the most beautiful songs I know. The words as well as the melody are slow and painfully bittersweet. I imagine it particularly as being sung by the followers of Christ as he hung dying on the cross. It seems appropriate to have a rendition of it in this space on Good Friday.
>
> "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded"
>
> O sacred head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
> Now scornfully surrounded with thorns thine only crown,
> How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
> How does that visage languish, which once was bright as morn!
>
> What thou, my God, hast suffered was all for sinners' gain;
> Mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain!
> Lo, here I fall, my Savior -- tis I deserve thy place.
> Look on me with thy favor, vouchsafe to me thy grace.
>
> What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend,
> For this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
> Oh, make me thine forever! And should I fainting be,
> Lord, let me never, never, outlive my love to thee.
>
> Iss "never, never" achar

Funny you should mention that hymn. We sang it last night at my church's Maundy Thursday service, and I commented to my brother something about hymns with the word "gory" in them- but your first verse doesn't seem to say that. Funny how so many hymns have completely different words in different churches.

~Mina "but then, the verses I've always known as part of "Amazing Grace" are completely different from those Darien knows too..." moon