Domingo Lopez to His Saviour

The cowardice of man who dares not do!—

For sixteen centuries since Jesus died

On Golgotha, we paint Him from dolls tied

On crosses, or from corpses stark and blue.

Has any painter ever dared to screw

A living model to the Cross, or tried

To seize the wriggles of the Crucified—

The twitches of the living hands nailed through?

O Christ, my Christ, Thou shalt be painted yet

In all Thy torture; and at last men's eyes

Shall see Thy cracking limbs, Thy crimson sweat!

I've trapped a Jew in cellars whence can rise

No yells. I'll work at leisure; and we'll set

The finished picture in St Barnaby's.