To Sabine, a Pure, Young Girl (for Frederick her brother)

In this our dear East, a short time ago,
In the skies of Amshit with their luminous glow,
In their depths, for a moment our time ceased to run
While there halted up there a radiant sun.
A springtime of wonder, a land bathed in light,
With flowers and stars and with beauty bedight,
When virgins and heroines and spirits supreme
Welcomed among them our purest Sabine.
What joy for her nearest when ascended this soul
To join them in praising the Lord of us all
Over Byblos the city where mankind took flight
Into realms of the mind from a land of delight.
Just a short time ago the Almighty God
Let a chosen soul go where his own Son had trod.
His touch gave life to this being so pure,
Giving a soul both sublime and demure.
On this tender body, he left a sad trace
But she knew how to laugh and to live with sweet grace.
A long childhood she suffered, a full forty years,
And Calvary climbed with her family’s tears.
The angels filled up her babyhood world
With stars and moons and trees many-pearled,
Rainbows and waterfalls and babbling streams,
Above them, bright birds all peopled her dreams.
Those close around her caressed her sweet face
Their arms closely held her in loving embrace.
She understood then when Jesus had told her,
She was taken by him because he had loved her.
Lost in his world of transparent blue nights,
Perfumed with innocence and all holy delights,
Caught up in such love, such a limitless sea,
Each dawn brings a discourse and, whether she be
Awake or asleep, in deep silence, she dreams
With a fire in her soul and feeling that gleams.
Christmas and Easter, each season and feast
Flow’rs in her soul where they give of their best.
She looks on the sun but it bears not her gaze,
The glow of her beauty eclipses its rays.
Her body on earth to be tortured was seen
But her spirit in heaven is that of a queen.
Here she breathed kindness, she admired and she sought
To wander far off in dreams where she caught
Hearts and spirits to set them on fire
And so forgetting her sufferings dire.
And Jesus her Lord let her follow this mission,
In faith and in suffering she pursued this ambition.
Saint Rafca like Sabine was a martyr to pain
But now with Our Lady she gives her acclaim,
Receiving her joyous in heaven’s full splendor,
Offering a throne with the praise that they render.
On earth still some sorrow in the hearts of those dear
Close to Sabine when she suffered pain sere,
But they all know what in Scripture they see
Resurrection is coming and reunited they’ll be.

Joseph Matar
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Translated from French: K.J.Mortimer