Part 3 (2/2)

A Boreal winter void of light-- So seemed her widowed days forlorn: She slept; but in her breast all night Her heart lay waking till the morn.

Sad flowers on Calvary that grew;-- Sad fruits that ripened from the Cross;-- These were the only joys she knew: Yet all but these she counted loss.

Love strong as Death! She lived through thee That mystic life whose every breath From Life's low harpstring amorously Draws out the sweetened name of Death.

Love stronger far than Death or Life!

Thy martyrdom was o'er at last Her eyelids drooped; and without strife To Him she loved her spirit pa.s.sed.

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_Mater Admirabilis._

XV.

O Mother-Maid! to none save thee Belongs in full a Parent's name; So fruitful thy Virginity, Thy Motherhood so pure from blame!

All other parents, what are they?

Thy types. In them thou stood'st rehea.r.s.ed, (As they in bird, and bud, and spray).

Thine Ant.i.type? The Eternal First!

Prime Parent He: and next Him thou!

Overshadowed by the Father's Might, Thy ”Fiat” was thy bridal vow; Thine offspring He, the ”Light of Light.”

Her Son Thou wert: her Son Thou art, O Christ! Her substance fed Thy growth:-- She shaped Thee in her virgin heart, Thy Mother and Thy Father both!

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_Mater Amabilis._

XVI.

Mother of Love! Thy love to Him Cherub and seraph can but guess:-- A mother sees its image dim In her own breathless tenderness.

That infant touch none else could feel Vibrates like light through all her sense: Far off she hears his cry: her zeal With lions fights in his defence.

Unmarked his youth goes by: his hair Still smooths she down, still strokes apart: The first white thread that meets her there Glides, like a dagger, through her heart.

Men praise him: on her matron cheek There dawns once more a maiden red.

Of war, of battle-fields they speak: She sees once more his father dead.

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