Don't Leave Me

Wind so cold, so bleak, so dark;
I felt it pierce me to the heart.
I shivered cold, the rain fell fast;
Each breath I knew could be your last.
My hair hung loose, blew o’er my face;
Somehow I knew the depth of grace.
I stood beneath the hill and looked;
The one place on earth that God forsook.
Wings of dawn, depth of sea;
There he was, but not near thee.
“Eloi,” You called to hollow wind
Forsaken because I had sinned.
If others stood and watched with me,
I saw them not; I could not see.
My eyes beheld you, nothing else;
I might have stood all by myself.
Were I alone on this wide earth
Your pain no better, your pain no worse.
I shuddered then, not for the chill
But that you suffered on that hill.

My life! My love! Your blood is shed;
The thorns have pierced your broken head.
Your breath is shallow, yet you say
“Forgive them, Father” for me today.
The ravaged hill that holds your cross
Knows not what earth will soon have lost.
Your feet will tread this dust no more
For three long days, and I abhor
The thought of losing you at all;
Before your cross in dust I fall.
“Don’t leave me,” whisper I in tears;
But nothing shall allay these fears.
It must be done; you know and love,
That’s why you left your home above.

My savior now is gone, is dead.
Can I believe the words he said?
Don’t leave me, Lord, my heart is torn;
Yet for this cross, Lord, you were born.
The emptiness and dark prevails
The wooden cross, the thorns, the nails;
All explain my tears, my shame;
But Messiah, Savior, is your name.
Oh that you had to die for me!
Oh wooden cross, oh broken tree!
Where is the one that I love best?
Do I deserve to be so blessed?
Now that you are gone, I know,
You’ve gone the dark to overthrow.
And because I’m on this hill alone
I may now, myself, approach your throne.