Lamar Howell's Weblog

If Jesus Christ had died by guillotine

We’d make at least one pilgrmage to France

Our paintings would have razors in the scene

and Mary, with a bucket in her hands.

If Christ had swung from gallows in the square,

then ropes of gold would hang upon our walls.

We’d contemplate his body swinging there

and sing of how he took the noose for all.

If Christ the Son had faced the firing squad,

we’d wear a patch of black upon our breast.

Each bullet would remind us all of God

and rifles would be held aloft and blessed

Had drugs been forced into Emmanuel’s veins,

a church would have a needle on its tower,

death chambers in stained-glass on window panes

and songs of the Syringe’s cleansing power.

If some electric chair had brought him death,

then books on amps and volts would line our shelves.

A thunderstorm would take away our breath

and power bills be cause to search ourselves.

If there had been no cross for Jesus Christ,

they would have killed him by a thousand ways.

But it was still a cross that saved our lives

and it will be a cross for endless days.