The Lepers' Lace

Lepers wove with ravaged hands,

The fine white lace in which I stand,

It links me to another place,

The day I saw amazing grace.

*

Lepers cast out — left to die,

Until they caught a young nun’s eye,

She dressed their wounds, she took them in,

She loved their souls and cured their skin.

*

Saving limbs from the deadly bite,

Pills turned their skin as black as night,

Pain against pain — they fought and won,

Hope against hope, all for one.

*

No dark secrets left to tell,

They live by making lace to sell,

Their lives that have been saved by grace,

Weave beauty noone can erase.

*

Now as I walk down the aisle,

The man I love can’t help but smile,

The lepers’ lace, my second skin,

Today, both ways — true love wins.