Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE STRANGER by JOHN RICHARD MORELAND

First Line: I SAW HIM WHERE THE ROSE WAS RED
Last Line: "YOURSELF STRIPPED OF YOUR MASK OF MIRTH."
Subject(s): JESUS CHRIST = SUFFERING & SACRIFICE;
I saw him where the rose was red
Pressing the cruel thorns between
His hands until his pale palms bled,
As he walked through my garden-space
And on his face
Such sorrow as I had not seen.

"Sad Stranger, who are you that walk
Where loveliness has birth?
Why are your palms all torn and dark?"
He broke another rose blood-red
And turned and said:
"Yourself stripped of your mask of mirth."



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