Here Christ Stands

Here lies a body

Cold with death.

No longer taking that

Life-giving breath. 

Only to be

A cavity

Wherein worms feed

Decomposition's deed.

Here lies a body

Like rotting pages

Sitting in a decrepid

Library for ages.

Once a story

Of glory

Now damned by death

To end.  And yet--

Here lies the body

Of Jesus Christ.

It laughs at death

And clutches life.

A Revised Edition,

Restored and Risen.

Defeat is not His plight

While the Author writes.

Here lay the body 

Of Christ the King

Until victory triumphed

And conquered death's sting.

Sin is not the end

While the Savior pens

The tale of His plan

With nail-scarred hands.

Here Christ stands.

"Like the Cover of an Old Book, its Contents torn out and stripped of its Lettering and Gilding, He lies here, Food for Worms.  But the Work shall not be lost; for it will (as He believed) appear once more in a New and More Elegant Edition, Revised and Corrected by the Author."  ~ Benjamin Franklin