Ashley Haynes: Medieval Poem

The Baptism of Christ, ca. 1480–1490
Pupil of Veit Stoss
Cracow

Christ

Christ the Son of God kneeling upon his knees,

His cousin John baptizing him anew:

The most innocent renewing His purity;

Rising away sins unknown,

Simply one of the many who have come to be reborn.

 

The River of Jordan celestial waters bringing about endless new beginnings:

People from far and near,

People old and young,

Coming to repent in all their humbleness.

 

Reasons be it unknown to the delegation around,

Inside each soul, intentions accounted for.

Testimonies need not be known but to the one it belongs.

 

Christ such a prodigious figure,

Leading by act rather than His usual spoken tongue,

Showing the need for all to realize:

We all have our moments of faults,

Yet such doesn’t mean we can’t ever be forgiven.

 

Make haste, make haste,

To be like Christ, to be the exemplum.

Our time yet limited,

is like an hourglass of a millennium.

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