 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
369
THE TRUE HUMANITY.
(FROM ST. GERTRUDE.)
Sacred Humanity of Christ, all hail!Glorified Manhood Who alone art Man;
Great Archetype in God's own image formed
From everlasting. Adam was to Thee
Second, not first. Essential Man art Thou;
We are but pigmy and distorted shades
Down cast from Adam's lightning-blasted trunk
Upon the blighted heath of mortal life,
Or timeless and abortive fruit unblest
Cumbering his boughs. True God, alone true Man!
Thou from Whose touch deific streams that power
Which keeps from further and more bestial lapse
The race created Human; hail, O hail!
Hail in Thy Paradise of lonely light
Walking with God; in Thy Regalities
The Mediatorial Realm from pole to pole
Swaying: all hail, great Pontiff, with Thyself
Lighting Thy Church: all hail, Prophetic Power
God's Wisdom prime, His Uncreated Word,
Before Whose eyes Creation yet unborn
In vision passed; and from Whose tongue her Works
Their Names received, and were what they were called.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |