University of Virginia Library

Sorrowing Thy mother seeks Thee; sorrowing
Finding Thee,
Asks Thee wherefore Thou hast done this thing.
Can it be
Thou hast proved unkind, O Thou, her Son, her King?
Why must she
Thus already know the piercing and the sting?
Is it He,
Best and Dearest, shall the bitter anguish bring
She must dree?

Know'st thou not, who greatly lov'st thy Lord,
Who hast said,
As the air to that Annunciation chord
Vibrated,
Be it done to me according to thy word;
Held and led
By the Will whose power upon thee should be poured,
Fair and dread?
Oh, that not to know! Must He too know it well?
By and by
He, thy Son, will utter loud the anguish fell
Of that cry,
Why, My God, hast Thou forsaken Me? that knell
Tolled on high,
'Tis the knell of earth's despair doth rise and swell,
Sink and die,
Tolled around, below, for heaven, for earth, for hell,
Verily;
And the answer is the same, Emmanuel,
To that Why.
Yea, the Son shall do the Father's business still;
His design
All the purpose of the Father to fulfil:
Though the brine
Of the wild waves seem to dash above us chill,
His divine
Presence hid behind a cloud of doubt or ill
Unbenign;
Safe within the blessed haven of His will,
'Neath His Eyne;
And the Cross whereon He hung on Calvary hill
Is the Sign.
Once again for three days lost to mortal sight,
Shall He go
(Body of Him in death-grip close and tight,)
Down below,
Where the souls are waiting till His blessed light
He will show;
In the Spirit shall he ope their gates of night,
Speak, and lo!
He, the Light of God, shall make their darkness bright
With His glow:
Purged of sin they stand before Him clean and white;
Him they know,
Him who plunged the deepest depths from highest height,
Loving so.

Know ye not I do My Father's business? yea,
We as she
Fain would ponder all these things of Thine, and pray,
Lord, to be
Willing not to understand, and yet obey
Utterly.
So we do the Father's business day by day,
One with Thee.