Indifference
When Jesus came to Golgotha, they hanged Him on a tree,
They drove great nails through hands and feet, and made a Calvary;
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red were His wounds and deep,
For those were crude and cruel days, and human flesh was cheap.
When Jesus came to Birmingham, they simply passed Him by.
They would not hurt a hair of Him, they only let Him die;
For men had grown more tender, and they would not give Him pain,
They only just passed down the street, and left Him in the rain.
Still Jesus cried, "Forgive them, for they know not what they do,"
And still it rained the winter rain that drenched Him through and through;
The crowds went home and left the streets without a soul to see,
And Jesus crouched against a wall, and cried for Calvary.
Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy 1883-1929
Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy MC (1883–1929) was a vicar in the slums of Worcester at the outbreak of WWI. Finally, late in 1915, he was allowed to leave the parish and make his way to France as an Army chaplain During the war he was nicknamed Woodbine Willie for giving Woodbine cigarettes along with spiritual aid to injured and dying soldiers. By the time the war ended, and he finally returned to Worcester in March 1919, his volume of poetry Rough Rhymes had made him a national figure. You can read more about him here