He was despised and left alone of men

 He was despised and left alone of men

Though He had come to share their sufferings,

And though He wished to shield them as a hen

Enfolds its frightened chicks beneath its wings.

Each day He walked here on His earthly way

Grief went with Him: grief for a fallen race,

Bonded to sin; grief for the pain that lay

Upon man’s life; grief for rejected grace.

 

For He was an embarrassment to man,

A corner-stone whom mankind must reject

Because He could not square with their beliefs;

They hid their faces, mocking rather than

Acknowledging the worth of God’s Elect,

Though He hath borne our sorrows and our griefs.