The bruising rose

The bruising rose
 
You told the story of an innocent woman
          accused of adultery –
tied to a post in the marketplace,
 
everyone who passed required by law
to cast a stone or some filth upon her ...
 
which she endured with a noble dignity;
her daughter was brought forth, throwing
 
not a stone nor filth but, a simple rose ...
and the mother shrieking in agony
          as it brushed her cheek.
 
Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,
You told the crowd in another marketplace.
 
You, of course, could have cast that stone,
but You have come down, bound Yourself
 
among the stones and filth
of our marketplaces to endure unjustly
 
the fateful punishments of being human
and to weigh in Your innocent hands
 
the culpability of each stone-and-rose-wielding
patron, each laboring, fearful heart.
 
O child of God, the Beloved is ever merciful.
Protect Him from the bruising rose of your infidelity.