Good Friday

A Poetic Triptych by Kilby Austin

Crucifixion by John August Swanson

---

A Good Friday Triptych By Kilby Austin

1. On either side, in the middle 
So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus in the middle. John 19:17–18 And in the middle of the square and of the river, and on either side, is the tree of life. Revelation 22:2 

The tree of life my soul has seen
all at a glance where in between 
two sinners hung on either side 
the Lord of life is crucified. 

He bore upon his back for me 
the cross he planted as a tree, 
and though two thousand years have passed
two thousand more it shall outlast. 

Its roots reach down to deepest hell, 
its crown to heaven—oh, who can tell 
its height, its depth, its width, its breadth
that far past east and west has spread? 

Beneath its shadow I recline; 
its fruit is sweet and makes good wine; 
I know no sorrow or disease 
that is not cured by its leaves. 

Up through its branches I will climb 
to where no sun or moon mark time, 
up Jacob’s ladder with a host 
from every land and isle and coast.

Come gaze upon this tree, my friend, 
whose glories blaze and never end—
the wounded limbs now glorified, 
the life that gushes from its side. 

Seems it a rugged cross to you? 
Yet when the Lord makes all things new
this tree of life will still be there, 
the throne of God in heaven’s square. 

2. From top to bottom 
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” John 19:23–24 
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. Matthew 27:51

Torn is the old that veiled the God. 
The new is woven without a seam. 
“Let us not tear it,” the soldiers nod. 
I put it on.  The cherubs gleam.  

3. Out of his heart 
But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness…that you also may believe. John 19:34–35 And he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Revelation 22:1 

Where streams of living waters flow
my ransomed soul with joy shall go 
and drink the pleasures of the tide
that issues from a piercéd side. 

Oh love that wrenched the rib from him 
to fashion her both life and limb! 
Oh bare and beautiful the fount 
that springs from Eden’s highest mount! 

I see, I see that river’s source, 
which flows through heaven in crystal course 
to water all the Shepherd’s flock, 
forth-springing from a stricken rock: 

Oh Christ! Thou art the fountainhead 
from which our lesser streams are fed— 
thy Spirit, given up in death, 
now gives thy loved ones life and breath. 

No banks or bounds that river hold 
which runs across the streets of gold—
the world’s salt seas it turns to fresh, 
to gardens turns the wilderness. 

How glad the city is above 
that’s built upon such floods of love! 
How glad the people are whose God
in midst of them pours out his blood! 

And oh, how glad, how glad the Bride 
regathered to his opened side! 
Her God, her Man—
his stream, his tree, 
his life—is hers eternally.

---

Truly grateful to Kilby Austin for sharing her incredible poetic craft through this original Good Friday poem. As the subtitle alludes, she intends this work to be in a triptych form: three literary scenes standing alongside each other.

Here is a photo showing how this poem looks in that format:

Kilby is a homemaker and editor by day, a poet and musician by night, and a fantasist and Christian at all hours. She lives under a cold and windy sky far from her native land and has seen with her own eyes the aurora borealis (the one and only item on her bucket list; she will therefore greet with contented submission the Grim Reaper when he comes). On her substack, she publishes poems old and new, sometimes reads them aloud, and sometimes even sings or illustrates them.

Her poems have been published in The Penwood Review, Anima: Poems of Soul and Spirit, and elsewhere. Her debut collection, This Way to Warmth, is due for release in June 2026 with Prisca Publishing.