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CHRIST'S WOMANHOOD
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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45

CHRIST'S WOMANHOOD

Woman and man in perfect man unite;
The marvellous light
Of Christ's eyes had its fount and source in this.
In true man strength and sweetness blend their powers,
Like diverse flowers
Wedded for ever in one marriage-kiss.
Through Christ's eyes shone the light, most pure, divine,
Which soon shall shine
Like God's own sunlight through all women's eyes.
The Magdalen caught that saving glance and knew
One man was true,
And in her soul the harlot straightway dies.

46

When this light shines through all the eyes of men
There shall be then
No lost souls left on earth to moan and weep.
Woman, who is but as a worn-out child
Whom pain makes wild,
Shall mark that light, and smile, and fall asleep
Then she shall wake,
And all old pangs that throbbed with weary ache
Shall in that healing rest have passed away.
New sunlit skies
Shall meet the laughing sunlight in her eyes,
And on the earth shall dawn love's perfect day.
The womanhood
Whose sweetness ever in Christ's heart abode
Yearning to lift, to gladden, to redeem,
Shall purify
The earth, and set new stars within the sky,
And change life to the likeness of Christ's dream.

47

The Magdalen,
Whom Christ by understanding hallowed then,
Was the precursor of all women saved.
When manhood wills,
The blind mad soulless tyranny that kills
Shall ended be, and woman unenslaved.
Woman first spoke
And the first gleam of her far sunrise broke
When through Christ's eyes the woman who shall be
Loved all the race;
When through the sweet sad splendour of his face
Shone the true glory of manhood, purity.
1886.