Poetry

When She Received Him With Outstretched Arms

by Maria Franco
03/30/24
Not For Sale

  Message Writer
  Hire Writer

Tweet

When she received him with outstretched arms
When Nicodemus and Joseph placed him in her arms.
When she held the Son of God on her lap
The same son of whom angels sang at his birth.

When she received him with outstretched arms
When her eyes wept with uncontrolled tears,
She saw the enormous gift that he gave
The gift of his life in obedience to his heavenly father.

When she received him with outstretched arms
When her stricken eyes beheld the sight.
His body broken, his heart cut open
His skin all shredded in the flogging.

When she received him with outstretched arms
His gaping wounds caught at her heart.
All lacerated from head to toe
The mark of the nails and crown a mortifying pain.

When she received him with outstretched arms
She held him close to her heart.
Her son, her life, her very light
His blood streaked form mingled with her tears.

When she received him with outstretched arms
She cradled him one last time.
She placed him in the stone hewn tomb
And kissed him with the heaviest heart.

When she received him with outstretched arms
Her grief was inconsolable.
As the stone was put in place and sealed
The Mother of Sorrows in suffering reeled.

When she received him with outstretched arms
She looked around to see our own arms,
To wrap them around her to console her
To take her into our home as Mother of all.

Maria Franco