Garden Prayer

note - would have proper punctuation, but my keyboard is acting stupid and won't let me use 'shift'.

this quiet garden of shadows
untold secrets in the dark
i alone know this cross
i alone can bear its shame

i cry out against the lash
it is the truth i cannot bear
but i will stand in their stead
i will wither beneath their pitiless stare

i know you as they have not known you
through my eyes alone will they see
every stripe i take into me records their name

for strangers held close to your heart
i will bleed
for their hearts are turned away
and the only road back is within me

bought with great price their freedom
while my face of glory is willing
my clothes of flesh are weak
so with tears of blood my fears i lay down

alone i will endure the cross
alone now i feel its impending weight
too much, too much but for grace
grace greater than all their sins

grace lifts up its face
as mercy lays down its price
only holiness could lay down its life
and holiness will take it up again

as i hear the hammer pound
the nails all to hear
so pounds my throbbing heart

as love - your love - will pierce the willing spirit
and shame - their shame - will fade in the light of sacrifice

in return for abuse, i give them love
in return for despair, i give them hope
and forsake all for myself

father forgive their unwilling hearts
as willingly i give them my own
i allow you to forget me for this hour
so that you may always remember them...