Between the brown hands of a server-lad
The silver cross was offered to be kissed.
The men came up, lugubrious, but not sad,
And knelt reluctantly, half-prejudiced.
(And kissing, kissed the emblem of a creed.)
Then mourning women knelt; meek mouths they had,
(And kissed the Body of the Christ indeed.)
Young children came, with eager lips and glad.
(These kissed a silver doll, immensely bright.)
Then I, too, knelt before that acolyte.
Above the crucifix I bent my head:
The Christ was thin, and cold, and very dead:
And yet I bowed, yea, kissed - my lips did cling.
(I kissed the warm live hand that held the thing.)
It would seem on first reading that the process is  matter-of-fact, emphasising the lifelessness of the hard, metal image. The repetition of ‘and’ forms a  syndetic list , suggesting the mechanical nature of the poet’s act of worship. 
 One student interpreted this differently, suggesting that ‘thin and cold and very dead’ conveys Christ’s suffering. His earthly body would naturally be cold after his spirit ascended to heaven. The repeated ‘and’s might suggest emphasis. 
 It is certainly open to interpretation.