When reading Crashaw’s poem, I was struck immediately by his rhetorical questions “Are they mouths? or are they eyes?” (2). Is Christ delivering us salvation by the word of God or is he watching and judging us? In light of the Richard Rambuss reading, I’m wondering about the relationship that the speaker has with Christ. He paints Christ’s wounds as “full-bloomed lips” and claims that Christ’s blood falls as tears, suggesting that Christ is weeping over the loss of a friend or lover (5, 8). Thus, the sexualizing (although I’m not sure I would call it erotic) images  heighten the original tension of the poem. On one hand, Christ’s wounds are beautiful lips that “hast laid / Many a kiss” and granted peace (10-11). On the other, Christ has a “bloodshot eye” that sheds “many a cruel tear” (7,8) reminding us of the pain he suffered.  Christ is a figure that both saves and comforts us, but whom we also owe a great deal of debt.