The profound depth of this poem keeps one internalized a long time, first in contemplation and then devout praise.
I have been brought a Rose
I have been brought
a rose:
born of, bred of
earth. and red of
sun and sky-strung rain.
With omnipotent thrift
an immortal gift
to mortal goes:
to less than flower,
less than rose-leaf,
less than rose-dust.
Creator, must
this withering hour,
this wilting leaf,
know its yield of pain
know less than grain
of immortality.
The germ of wheat
returns
my Lord
for me to eat!
(My tongue burns
to feel my God so close to me!)
Mind, who thought
my rose,
take it;
break it;
bind it into your crown of thorns
for me to see!
Be
its lover!
Mind, who thought
me,
take me,
break me,
(I who fled),
wear me like a crown of thorns
oh, sweet
my Lord
about your head!
Let me be
Your lover?
Evelyn Coffey
This may be one of the poems in which Evelyn walks across a bridge at one end of which is Rose and the other is God. She has been separated from the love of her life, to whom she remains connected spiritually. Now here is this wafer that is God, as rose is Rose, and this God bled and died like her Rose, and bled crimson like her Rose, and this God can enter her and become one with her and remain forever. All is one, her self, her Rose, her God.
ReplyDeleteHer personal relationship with God is so profound. Here is a God who died, like her Mama and her Rose, and her Papa. Here was a God who lost his Son, like she lost those she loved.
Perhaps this is why this may be one of her greatest mystical poems, self-Rose-God as one.