The Christmas Rose 

by Marianne Watts, OP

Once, at the beginning, a Word was spoken
Into bruised and broken human years
And deep within Earth's time-born fears
(of what has been and what will be)
It thundered down the centuries
To tell this truth that lives beneath the cheerful glows
of pretty winter snows and candle shine and play:

Way, way within the shadow of the Christmas Rose,
In dark and lovely loneliness is also born
--to music of a muted strain--
The Rose Thorn.

The Child who came to Earth was born
To hold Earth's history in His heart
Embrace Earth's sorrow
Honor it with love unending
Mending what is torn
And through the mystery of this birth
Illuminate the scars of Earth with holy light
Creating not forgetfulness or end to pain
But Memory Transfigured
With the rain of Mercy
Consecrating all that is
(and what has been and what will be)
All of it.

And suddenly the lost and lonely thorn-bound spaces of one's life
Bloom with graces of their own
In the memory of the hoping heart alone
The flower gropes in darkness
Toward the glory of the star.