A Poem for Holy Week and Easter:
“I See His Blood Upon the Rose”

Q U I C K S C A N

About the poet: Joseph Mary Plunkett
“I See His Blood Upon the Rose”
Friar Jack’s line-by-line meditations

At the beginning of Lent, I received this e-mail from a reader named Tim. He writes about his enthusiasm for a poem that has inspired many (and that I wrote about last year): “I See His Blood Upon the Rose.” Tim’s e-mail seems providential, in view of Holy Week and Easter quickly approaching. It’s a perfect poem to remind us of God’s great gift of love as revealed through the suffering and rising of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word. In this poem all created things seem to remind the poet of God’s incredible love, dramatized through the person of Christ.

This is Tim’s letter, slightly condensed:

Friar Jack:

As I walked home from Ash Wednesday Mass, my favorite poem was welling up in my head. I decided to Google it and see what else I could find about it. I’m glad I did, because I discovered your Web site.

I first read Joseph Mary Plunkett’s poem, “I See His Blood Upon the Rose,” in a 1948 anthology of Catholic literature titled A Return to Tradition.

Plunkett’s poem reached out and grabbed me and hasn’t let me go. I’ve memorized this sparse and powerful poem and meditate upon it often as I run or walk the hills and beaches around my home, as I kayak the bays and coast of central California, and when backpacking and climbing. It is a personal devotion that is always with me that perfectly expresses my awe and gratitude for the beautiful jewel of a world that has been bestowed upon us. A world made even more special precisely because “all pathways by his feet are worn” (a line from the poem).

About the poet: Joseph Mary Plunkett

(From this point on we draw upon a condensed version of my column from last year, which received many letters.)

Born in Dublin in 1887, Joseph Plunkett wrote many poems of rare mystical force. Plunkett was one of the signers of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and was imprisoned by the English army. He was executed in 1916 for his part in the 1916 Rising. Shortly before his execution on the morning of May 4, he married his fiancée, Grace Gifford, in the jail’s chapel. Plunkett was 28 years old.

Because of his great love for the Incarnate Word and the Word’s close connection to all created things, Plunkett seemed to see Christ’s destiny and great love as forever entwined with this earth and this universe.

“I See His Blood Upon the Rose”
by Joseph Mary Plunkett

I see his blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,
His body gleams amid eternal snows,
His tears fall from the skies.

I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds
Are but his voice—and carven by his power
Rocks are his written words.

All pathways by his feet are worn,
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,
His cross is every tree.

Friar Jack’s line-by-line meditations

“I see his blood upon the rose”: When we gaze at a rose or any other part of this universe, we see not only the individual beauty of the rose, precious and awesome in its own right. We see also the intensity of God’s care behind that rose and behind the universe itself—an intensity revealed in Christ’s all-out, self-giving love, in his blood spilt for us on the cross.

“And in the stars the glory of his eyes”: In the stars we see not only the glory of his death and total self-giving. We see also the glory of his risen body and his death-conquering gaze.

“His body gleams amid eternal snows”: When we look at snowcapped mountains or other snowy vistas, we might see glimpses of Christ’s pale body, as when taken down from the cross—or his glorified, transfigured body shining brighter than snow. “His tears fall from skies”: Again, behind the lovely everyday processes of nature such as a spring shower, we can't help seeing the love of our Great Lover—and the tears he shed over Jerusalem or during his agony in the garden.

“I see his face in every flower”: Every flower, indeed everything in this universe, reminds us of Christ. As St. Paul tells the Colossians (1:16), “All things were created through him and for him.” We recall, too, that St. Francis saw in the beauty of flowers the One who is Beauty itself.

“The thunder and singing of the birds/Are but his voice”: Singing birds and all other sounds of nature communicate one thing: God’s great love for us.

“And carven by his power/Rocks are his written words”: Christ, the Word made flesh, is truly intermingled with the universe. Creation itself is a reflection of the Word through whom “all things came to be” (Jn 1:3).

“All pathways by his feet are worn”: At the Incarnation, God made this world his home. Every path, trail and road of this earth has taken on an elevated dignity and meaning because of the pathways Christ took while accomplishing his mission on earth. All paths remind us of the pathway he took to save us—the Way of the Cross.

“His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea”: In the sea pounding against the jagged coast, we get glimpses of Christ’s mighty heart pounding with love for us.

“His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn”: Every thorn is somehow intertwined with Christ's crown of thorns. Indeed, in every created thing we see Christ's saving love.

“His cross is every tree”: Behind every tree, we can see Christ’s cross—and the Creator's unconditional love.

Send your feedback to friarjack@americancatholic.org.

A comprehensive collection of poems written by and about Francis and Clare. 
Learn more here.

Send beautiful, free Catholic e-greetings for Easter, birthdays and many other occasions.
Click here for details.

Original poems by Murray Bodo address Scripture, Franciscan life and the spirituality of place.
Read a sample online.

Home of Catholic audio features Saint of the Day, Sunday Soundbites and American Catholic Radio.
Visit Franciscan Radio.

This gem of a book is meant to help us find hope in the violent times in which we live through praying with poetry.
Read a chapter online.

Father Overberg offers honest and faithful reflection on a difficult and timeless subject. Read a free sample chapter online.

Christ’s coming was foreshadowed in writings from Genesis to the prophets. Through those stories, Father Veras aims to “aid the reader to come to a deeper certainty about Jesus Christ.” A Servant Book. Learn more here.

Sample book chapters, audio clips and video clips before purchasing items from St. Anthony Messenger Press.
Click here for more information.

A free monthly e-newsletter for catechetical leaders. The focus is parish catechesis beyond textbooks and classrooms.
Click here to find the latest issue.