Three Days Dead

Three nights I've swallowed iron in my sleep

His face behind my eyelids, bruised and crowned

I scrubbed my skin until the water wept

But Golgotha still echoes underground

They said the seal was split, the boulder rolled

The Roman guard found trembling, ashen, mute

I swore I'd never walk that hill again

But something in my marrow pulled me to it

What is this? (What is this?)

The grave gapes wide and nothing's where He lay

The linen folded where His face had pressed

I watched Him die, I caught the final breath

So tell me why the tomb won't keep its dead

The women swear that fire filled the stone

The fishermen have locked themselves away

A dead man's flock should scatter with the wind

So why are sealed lips burning things to say?

I keep hearing what He told the thief

Hanging beside Him, choking through the flood

"Today you'll be with Me in Paradise"

I wrote it off as ravings from the blood

But if the body's gone, if He walked out

Then where He promised is the place He went

A dying man can't keep a dead man's vow

Unless He meant every word He said— He meant

I can't explain the cloth (I can't explain!)

I can't explain the guards (I can't explain!)

A thief steals corpses, doesn't fold the shroud

I can't— I can't— I can't—

What if He's alive?!

What is this? What is this?

The seal of Rome undone without a blade

The borrowed grave has given up its claim

I watched Him crushed beneath a blackened sky

So why does something in me burn like flame?

I haven't said aloud what I suspect

The words would scorch my unbelieving tongue

I stood beside the place where dead men rest

And tasted air where death has come undone

I'm not a follower (not yet)

I'm not yet free (not yet)

But I can't walk away from what I've seen

The tomb is empty and my chest is full

Of something I'm afraid to call by name