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AT ANTWERP—BEFORE RUBENS' “DESCENT FROM THE CROSS.”
O holiest spirit, most bless'd that e'er wore
On earth these frail robes of mortality,
So for our human sake, Christ, didst thou die
The death that thieves and malefactors bore,
Making the Cross, how sacred! evermore.
“God, why hast thou forsaken me!”—that cry
Shrieks through all ages thy wan agony
As when, first heard, the accursèd night it tore,
And Mary knew it by the abhorrèd tree,
And swoon'd from that wild wail in love and awe.
And thou who here hast given to man to see
What shuddering earth, darkening her darkness, saw
Surely the tongue of God thou cam'st to be
To tell how He was given to death's fell maw!
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