VERSES WRITTEN UNDER A PRINT REPRESENTING THE SALUTATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN.
I
See represented here, in Light and Shade,
The Angel's Visit to the blessed Maid,—
To Mary, destin'd, when the Time should come,
To bear the Saviour in her virgin womb,—
Explaining to her the mysterious Plan
Of Man's Redemption,—His becoming Man.
II
When ev'ry previous Wonder had been done,
The Virgin then was to conceive a Son;
And, to prepare her for the grand Event,
From God His Father Gabriel was sent,
To hail the chosen Organ of His Birth,—
Of “God with us,” of Jesus upon Earth.
III
Unable to express celestial Things,
Imagination adds expanded Wings
To human Form exact and beauteous Face
Which Angels have, but with angelic Grace,
Free from all Grossness and Defect, nor seen
But with a pure chaste Eye, Divinely keen.
IV
Such Mary's was, whose Posture here design'd
The most profound Humility of Mind,
Modestly asking how the Thing could be,
And saying, when inform'd of God's Decree:
“Behold the Handmaid of the Lord! His Will
Let Him, according to thy Word, fulfill!”
V
What fair Instruction may the Scene impart
To them who look beyond the Painter's Art!
Who in th' angelic Message from above
See the Revealing of God's Gracious Love
To ev'ry Soul that yields itself to all
That pleases Him, whatever may befall!
VI
Whatever Circumstance of heav'nly Grace
Might be peculiar to the Virgin's Case,
That holy Thing that saves a Soul from Sin
Of God's good Spirit must be born within;
For all Salvation is, upon the whole,
The Birth of Jesus in the human Soul.
