The hour is near
My friends still sleeping
I am alone in this garden
Yet all hell and heaven are watching me
If only there could be
Some other way than this I’m taking

I see a valley of shadow and death open wide now to swallow me
Darkness awaits and my soul cries out but there will be no comfort
Father if you are willing take this cup far from my lips
Now that my hour has come I see the blame falling on me

O watch with me
Your eyes so heavy
It comes so hard
To have to face this time alone
Is that the door of heaven I see
Closing hard against me?

Oh such a heavy load has leapt upon my shoulders
History breathes atrocities into my ears
Drawn from the veins of the human race I smell the serpent’s poison
Heaped like the blackest mountain I see the blame falling on me

My work is done
The words are spoken
Now like fireflies the torches dance
Closer through the trees
Casting shadow masks on the faces of the mob
As they come like a pack of wolves for me

I am betrayed by the kiss of a friend with a voice so familiar
Weapons of war for your fear as if I was a man of violence
Future and past so dark are crowding in upon this moment
But I am ready now to see the blame falling on me

Judas my friend, how the bag of thirty silver pieces
Weighs so heavy upon your neck
And how your eyes avoid mine
Yes, I’m the man – why so afraid
And why the weapons and the cloak of darkness – let us go now

Graham Kendrick
Copyright © 1983 Make Way Music,
www.grahamkendrick.co.uk