A Rose Unpetalled

Jesus, to aid thy feeble powers
 I see thy Mother's arms outspread,
 As thou on this sad earth of ours
 Dost set thy first, thy faltering tread;
 See, in thy path I cast away
 A rose in all its beauty dressed,
 That on its petals' disarray
 Thy feet, so light,
 may softly rest. ...
 Dear Infant Christ, this fallen rose
 An image of that heart should be
 Which makes, as every instant flows,
 Its whole burnt-sacrifice to thee.
 Upon thy altars, Lord, there gleams
 Full many a flower whose grand display
 Charms thee; but I have other dreams
 Bloomless, to cast myself away.
 For love of Loveliness supreme,
 Dying, to cast myself away
 Were bright fulfillment of my dream;
 I'd prove my love no easier way;
 Life, here below, forgotten still,
 A rose before Thy path outspread
 At Nazareth, or Calvary's hill
 Relieve Thy last, Thy labouring tread.