MARGARET WILSON; WIGTOWN MARTYR

Rosemary by the Wigtown monument

The waters were to the ankles:
Well had these feet followed
The Master’s footsteps.

The waters were to the knees;
How had she bowed to Christ
As the church’s only Head!

The waters were to the loins;
Where man’s ties bound her to the stake:
Where her love bound her to Christ.

A river that could not be passed through:
For if men made the waters vanquish her
She more than conquered, buoyed in love’s ocean.

The stone in the churchyard

THE JOURNEY

If the lamb's blood around the door
Was answer to immediate need
God strengthened for what lay before:
They had the lamb on which to feed.
Christ has not only set me free
But been the food to nourish me.

God overwhelmed the Egyptians first
So that the victory was complete
Then satisfied His people's thirst
By water wood He showed made sweet.
Because Christ died to make me free
"Christ" sweetens what refreshes me.

Since the brass serpent held their gaze
Though serpent-bitten they could live
And reach soon, in Jehovah's ways,
The well He promised He would give.
Sin in the flesh has been condemned;
The Spirit's grace has been unstemmed.

The Jordan's flooding waters found
A force that they could not withstand,
And once they crossed it on dry ground
They ate the old corn of the land.
Christ and His cross have made me whole,
And Christ in glory feeds my soul.

IN MEMORIAM

We thought we knew the way the river went

Until well-laden waters reached the seas -

We thought we saw its fertile green extent

Broadening through fields and valleys, crops and trees.

God had another thought - it suddenly

Dropped seaward in a rushing cataract -

His vision and His wisdom rapidly

Brought it to His broad sea. This was His act.

Within love’s ocean she is now at rest,

Guarded by Him through whom she is asleep;

Since One she trusted and whom she confessed

Endured the anguish of the greatest deep.

And when He comes - her Lord and Lord of all -

She will spring forth in answer to His call.