Poems (Tynan)/Sign Manual

by Katharine Tynan

SIGN MANUAL

This is Thy lamb, yea, Lamb of God
 This, for whose sake Thy veins ran dry,
This, for whose sake by a hill-road
 Thou wentest forth to die.

This is Thy lamb, though torn, defiled
 By the beast's teeth. Where no stars gleam
All night, and never an angel smiled;
 It went in an ill dream.

So is it torn and stained so deep,
 Thy lamb, Thy lamb, bruised and astray.
O the true Shepherd knoweth His sheep,
 Though hirelings turn away.

See then below the scarlet sin,
 Shaming its heat, Thine own mark, see!
Thy Name in blood that hath sunk in
 Dripping from Calvary Tree.