Pages 24-25

A Heart’s Betrothal is one of those poems that continues to reveal itself to me. The first picture I looked for with Art Resources was a picture of Judas. The second was a picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, expecting the more familiar choices. Before searching a particular theme, I would quietly read the poem and get a feel for it. That’s what I did for this poem too.

The picture of the Sacred Heart on page 25 was so lovely that I chose that one right off, but continued to look at all the beautiful art. The St. Lutgardis print shocked me in light of the first verse:

I give my heart to You,

most Sacred heart.

I give my heart to You

right from the start.

To have a picture of a Saint extending her heart to Jesus was nowhere in my realm of imagination of a possible painting. I was amazed and stunned. And to think that this was painted possibly 400 years before the poem came to be! They appear to be made for each other.

Equally surprising to me was the form of the poem that I did not realize until having read it many times after the first printing. You may not have noticed it either. Note that the first line and third line of all the verses are the same, and that the last word or two is the same as the first word or two on the following verse. As many times as I read the poem before and directly after printing, and as many times as Valerie had read it, we had never noticed.

What I had become aware of after noticing was how I had memorized this poem for some unapparent reason. Now, I knew why. It was easy with its rhythm and flow!