Brought home from France
A souvenir of war
A crucifix found in rubble
Where recently a church had stood
A Christian home for Christian people there
The finder was a padre in the forces
A forager and collector of things lost
And home he came to England and to Rutland
And in a tiny church gave it a home
A hundred years it stood in Anglian fields
And witnessed to the cruelty of man
The figure on the cross who lived and died for all
To teach us love and keep us from the fall
And then a boy spoke up among the crowd
Shouldn’t we give it back his simple cry
And so they looked and found that what was lost
A church in France had risen to the sky
The cross is going home the story told
Yet crucifixions happen every day
Whatever you do to others you do to me
Let this inspire us now and let us pray
Brian Fahy
9 April 2023
Erris Poetry 