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 | The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere |  |
XXXVII. GRATIÆ PLENA.
If he of Angels first and best
Chief Ardour of the Seraph fires
More graces clasps than all the rest,
Perchance than all their ninefold choirs,
Chief Ardour of the Seraph fires
More graces clasps than all the rest,
Perchance than all their ninefold choirs,
(That so proportioned worth and place
May wed, nor even war with odd)
What plenitude of conquering grace
Must fill the Mother of her God!
May wed, nor even war with odd)
What plenitude of conquering grace
Must fill the Mother of her God!
84
Their greatness stands in limits curbed
Of sequent rank and grade; but she
Is one and whole, a world full-orbed,
An Order sole, and Hierarchy:
Of sequent rank and grade; but she
Is one and whole, a world full-orbed,
An Order sole, and Hierarchy:
Of things create both last and first;
Added, that so from Adam's crime
Her Son might save the race accursed;
Decreed before the birth of time.
Added, that so from Adam's crime
Her Son might save the race accursed;
Decreed before the birth of time.
Hail, Full of Grace! To eyes of men
Light shows not mid excess of light:
Thy glory mocks the angelic ken,
The peerless whiteness of thy white!
Light shows not mid excess of light:
Thy glory mocks the angelic ken,
The peerless whiteness of thy white!
And yet 'twixt her and us but small
The distance:—finite it must be:
'Twixt her and God the interval
Is evermore infinity.
The distance:—finite it must be:
'Twixt her and God the interval
Is evermore infinity.
| The Poetical Works of Aubrey De Vere | |