The Anglo-Saxon poem The Dream of the Rood survives in a tenth-century manuscript from southern England. It tells the story of the Crucifixion as seen through the eyes of the cross, which speaks in its own words, describing how it was forced to participate in Christ’s death. The tree tells how it was violently wrested from its forest home to be made a tool of execution, and how it witnessed the suffering of the “young hero, God almighty” who willingly climbed upon it. The tree loves and admires this warrior, who ascends his cross like a soldier going into battle, but it is forced to become his slayer as Christ endures a terrible and humiliating death.

They suffer together, the warrior and the cross.