Help
Us Gather Roses
You
appeared in a land where many had been slain;
They died in sacrifice during the Aztec reign.
You sought
upon a hill, a temple where to show:Compassion, love and help, a place for one to go.
The bishop
asked a sign, that truly you had spoke,
You sent an Indian poor, Juan Diego in a cloak.
Twas
December and a time, of whitened frost and cold
But there upon that hill, O flowers he did behold!
The abode of thorn it was, where flowers never grew,
A place of stony ground, cactus and thistle too.
He
gathered roses there, in the mantle which he wore,
And beauty took from you, to the bishop met before.
From the
mantle roses fell, and scattered on the floor...
The bishop's eye it fell, it fell on something more!
On the
mantle didst appear, the one without a taint!
O thou that Juan beheld, our mother in heav'nly paint!
* * * * * * *
O help us gather roses, from place of stony ground,
Convert with grace and truth,
the heart where abortion's found.
In the
temple of the body, help end the human slaughter,
The tiny one destroyed, is someone's son or daughter!
--John Riedell
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