CHRISTMAS ROSE

J. Kirk Richards

The Child Jesus to Mary, the Rose
A Ballade John Lydgate, OSB
Translated by Jacob Riyeff


My Father above, seeing your hopeful meekness,
spread balm like dew on Roses where you stood
and sent his Spirit, greatest summit of cleanness,
into your breast (O Rose of womanhood!)
when I for man was born in humble manhood:
for this, with myriad Roses of heavenly sway,
I rejoice to play before your holy face.

Kindest mother! who from the first enclosed
the blesséd bud that sprang out of Jesse,
of Judah you are the single perfect Rose

J. Kirk Richards

chosen by my Father for your firm humility—
you the purest, never fading, bore me:
for this, with myriad Roses pure and chaste,
I rejoice to play before your holy face.

O mother! mother! in great mercy you stand,
fairest mother living on whom we call!
Though I have suffered bloody wounds for man,
five Roses there are among them all
against whose mercies devils fight and fall.
Rose of succor, hear man’s surest grace:
when to me they pray before your holy face.


John Lydgate (c.1370-1449/50) was a Benedictine monk of
Abbey of Bury St. Edmunds in eastern England. He is
best known for his prolific work as a poet. He saw himself as
following in the footsteps of Geoffrey Chaucer. He wrote on
many topics and in many genres, but the monastic cast
of his poetry, which combines piety and learning, is evident
throughout. I have translated here one of Lydgate’s short
poems, a Chaucerian ballade with rime royal stanzas.

J. Kirk Richards

Joel Kirk Richards (born 1976) is an American artist who specializes in Judeo-Christian themes.
He was raised in Provo, Utah and studied at Brigham Young University.  Richards attributes much of his love for the arts to an early emphasis on musical training in his parents’ home.

Much of Richards's work focuses on the life of Jesus. Two years in Rome influenced his art, which often consists of subdued browns and rusts. His love of the textural, the poetic, and the mysterious makes his art unique.