Roses

(For Katherine Bregy)     I went to gather roses and twine them in a ring,     For I would make a posy, a posy for the King.     I got an hundred roses, the loveliest there be,     From the white rose vine and the pink rose bush and from the red rose tree.     But when I took my posy and laid it at His feet     I found He had His roses a million times more sweet.     There was a scarlet blossom upon each foot and hand,     And a great pink rose bloomed from His side for the healing of the land.     Now of this fair and awful King there is this marvel told,     That He wears a crown of linked thorns instead of one of gold.     Where there are thorns are roses, and I saw a line of red,     A little wreath of roses around His radiant head.     A red rose is His Sacred Heart, a white rose is His face,     And His breath has turned the barren world to a rich and flowery place.     He is the Rose of Sharon, His gardener am I,     And I shall drink His fragrance in Heaven when I die.