University of Virginia Library


80

THE MYSTERY OF THE ASSUMPTION

Lovely Mystery—
That our Lady stealeth from her tomb,
And doth serenely Heaven assume!
This most secret thou dost sow,
Wide as field-hills of anemone,
In the people's hearts to grow.
Nothing to the Church is told:
From the children at her knee
She receives the lovely mystery—
“Yes, our Mother kneeling down,
Jesus standing with a crown of gold,
Jesus laying on her head a crown.”
As the secret of the Cleansing Fire
Was among men, and no need to tell
Of the glorious hope in parable:
Thou hast told the people of Thy throne,
Of Thy soothing for them of God's ire—
In a whisper—thou and they alone.