This work brings together, in a dialogue between poetry and faith, a reflection which, whilst seeking to delve into the mystery of humankind and listening to its aspirations, brings them back and questions them in the light of the mystery of the Cross. By interweaving, as in a small rosary, images and texts of a poetic language linked in various ways to Christian thought, it explores these themes, pointing towards the nature of creation and recalling that design which humankind comprehends, embraces and transcends; from the ‘why’ of wounds to the ‘why’ of life inscribed in the very reason for his hope, and of beauty in the revitalised memory of a poetic word which, though tested, does not fear its quest in relation to a modernity whose voice and face are increasingly disfigured.

The key authors are: Karol Wojtyla, Francis Jammes, Giovanni Testori, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Charles Péguy, Mario Dell’Arco and Madeleine Delbrêl.