From lonely seed you burst, unleashed in Spring.

You pushed and weaved, until freed from the dirt.

The sun that kissed your leaves foreshadowing

When Son would embrace you with all His heart.

Through many winters you endured the pain,

Of desolation, loss, and nakedness.

And all the consolation when it rained,

Seemed but a fleeting glimpse of happiness.

When human hands they ripped you from your home,

Felled by axe, in pieces they did rend.

You thought that all was lost; there was no hope;

For sun would never touch your skin again.

In depth of sorrow you could not withstand.

You lay upon the dirt from whence you came.

And all the grandiose things that you had planned,

Before your very eyes, just slipped away.

When you no longer had the strength to stand,

They dragged you amid whips and spit and jeers,

And placed you on the back of scourged man,

Who surely felt the splinters that you pierced.

He carried you just like a little child,

Adopting with the touch of one who knows.

A temperament so innocent and mild,

  Amidst the terrors of the painful blows.

This man was also felled by vengeful hands;

The same that once had bowed you to your knees.

Though stringent as the whips with which they aimed,

He bore it all and spared you to be free.

The hilltop was your greatest victory.

No closer to the sky could you e’er get,

And while the people cheered the man’s defeat;

You cherished each and every of his breaths.

The nails that pierced his hands had pierced you too.

He hung upon your strength for he had none.

You realized suddenly with your shared wounds,

That this man was the one and only Son.

The One for whom your heart had always longed.

The One to give you back what you had lost.

The One who raised you up, conquered your wrongs,

And glorified you, oh Exultant Cross!