A poem inspired by a crucifix in a Normandy church. It begins:
I am the great sun, but you do not see me,
I am your husband, but you turn away.
I am the captive, but you do not free me,
I am the captain but you will not obey.
Charles Causley (1917-2003)
You can read the whole poem here…
or listen to the poem set to music for several voices.
The use of legends and ballads is one of the things that has given Causley his reputation as a Christian poet. Saints and demons wrestle all over his Cornwall. But he will not call himself a Christian at all. “I’d hate to be considered purely as a Christian poet. I’d find that just nauseating. My mother was a Christian, and went to the same little church as my grandmother had cleaned. The Church kind of belonged to them. They used to bake the bread for Communion. I was taken every day. I absolutely loved the King James version and all the prayers . . . And some of it might just have happened.”
(from an interview with Andrew Brown, 1992)