Prayer to Christ on Calvary

Prayer to Christ on Calvary
by Gabriela Mistral
translated from the Spanish by Roberto Hope

This afternoon, O Christ on Calvary
I came to plead to Thee for my ill flesh
but on seeing Thee, my eyes just went and came
from Thy wounded body to my own with shame.

How can I about my tired feet complain
when Thine so badly shattered I observe?
How can I show my empty hands to Thee
when Thine so full of wounds are spattered?

How can I, my solitude to Thee explain
when hoisted on the Cross alone Thou art?
How can I tell Thee that no love I have
when I see that Thy heart, all torn, Thou hast?

Now I no longer can anything recall
from me now all my ills have fled.
The vigor in the pleading I had brought
has from my cadging mouth now been suppressed.

And now I only plead to plead for nothing,
just to be here beside Thy dying image,
to go on learning that all pain is nothing
but holy door key to Thy holy gateway.