I awoke to hear the jailer turn the key and push the door    ‘Get out here!’ he shouted, but I stayed there on the floor    Frozen in the terror that rose and filled my brain    I knew what they intended; I could not face the pain       Then soldiers came into the cell and dragged me to the yard    They threw me down before a cross and brought the whip down hard    ‘Carry it!’ they shouted, as I struggled to my feet    I put my shoulder under it; dragged it to the street       I stumbled through a wall of screams as they drove me through the gate    It seemed that thousands lined the streets, their voices filled with hate    Like a wolf pack in the night that moves in for the kill    They closed the gap and followed us as we started up the hill       And it seemed I’d barely reached the top when they grabbed me from behind    They threw the cross down under me and tied the ropes that bind    The arms close to the beams as they nailed the feet and hands    And they raised the cross up in the air and dropped it in it’s stand       Through a blur of pain I saw the cross there next to mine    There were people all around it so I looked to read the sign    It was nailed there up above His head so the world could see the news    That the man who seemed so helpless there was the King of all the Jews       The crowd that stood around His cross made jokes about His name    They shouted, laughed and spat on Him so I joined in the game    I said, ‘Hey! If you’re the King why don’t you get us down from here?    The taunt just sounded hollow and it echoed in my ears       'Cause He looked at me with eyes that seemed to reach into my heart    They shone a light on all my lies and tore my life apart    There was more that lay behind His gaze than simply blood and clay    But knowing was too much for me; I had to look away       Then I chanced another look at Him as He was looking down    Where the soldiers who’d just crucified us drank there on the ground    And although He spoke them quietly, somehow His words came through    He said ‘Father, please forgive them; they don’t know what they do’       Then as if they’d heard Him speak, the crowd began to roar    Whipped to frenzy by the priests who urged them on to more    But the worse the accusations, now, the plainer I could see    The guilt of the accusers - not the One there next to me       Then the man upon the other cross began to curse and swear    But his voice was filled with venom as he hurled it through the air    When all the horror that was in him and had laid his life to waste    Came out in every syllable he flung in Jesus’ face       And Jesus only looked at him, but something rose inside of me    And in spite of all that watched us there, it couldn’t be denied    Because His righteousness and innocence were shining bright and strong    I just couldn’t keep my silence and that cursing still went on       I cried out, ‘Don’t you fear the wrath of God even at the end?    You’ll curse us both into the pit - is that what you intend?    We’re only getting what we’re due - we’ve sinned our whole lives long    But don’t you talk to Him that way - He’s done nothing wrong!’       Then with all my courage, in a voice not quite my own    I asked Him ‘Lord, remember me when you sit upon Your throne’    He answered me and, even then, His love was undisguised    He said ‘Before the sun has set today, you’ll be with Me in Paradise’       Well the shouts and curses did not stop even when the sunlight ceased    But somehow in the midst of it, my soul had been released    And though the agony continued, it was still too small a price    To be allowed to hear those words, and to die beside the Christ!