Brian Mountford has chosen thirty-five poems which explore the human experience of suffering and redemption, accompanied by his own thoughtful and witty commentary. The collection contains secular and sacred pieces in equal measure and came into being as part of a programme to bring a sense of seriousness, in a non-prescriptive, open-ended way to the Easter holiday crowds in the University Church, Oxford, where the poems were read on Good Friday with dignity and panache by senior school children. The selection has not been augmented in any kind of attempt to provide a fully representative anthology, but kept exactly as it evolved in response to this specific need.