And shall these bones 
live, these old songs 
go on in the face 
of so much saying 
that dark is all, 
Rosa das rosas 
small and white 

Shall these old 
bones rise and dance 
in the blaze of fire, 
only a candle so small, 
only skeletons 
of trees in ice-blue sunset, 
Rosa das rosas 
et Fror das frores 
gnarles in the fists 
of bare sycamore 
held to the sky 

Shall these bones dance, 
can the song be heard 
beneath the winter coughs 
and passing trains, cold 
comes up through the floor, 
the walls hum 
and the frame shifts, 
Dona das donas 
with white hands: 
shall these bones live 

Jill Grundburg 

The underlined words are from a song in praise of the Virgin by Alfonso el Sabio, king of Castille in the 13th century. The words are in Gallo-Portugese, a literary language in use at that time. They translate: Roses of all roses, Flower of all flowers, Lady of all ladies.