The Poems of J. J. Callanan A New Edition, with Biographical Introduction and Notes |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
LINES TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT. |
 | The Poems of J. J. Callanan |  |
143
LINES TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.
Thou dear and mystic semblance,
Before whose form I kneel,
I tremble as I think upon
The glory thou dost veil,
And ask myself, can he who late
The ways of darkness trod,
Meet face to face, and heart to heart,
His sin-avenging God?
Before whose form I kneel,
I tremble as I think upon
The glory thou dost veil,
And ask myself, can he who late
The ways of darkness trod,
Meet face to face, and heart to heart,
His sin-avenging God?
My Judge and my Creator,
If I presume to stand
Amid thy pure and holy ones,
It is thy command,
To lay before thy mercy's seat
My sorrows and my fears,
To wail my life and kiss thy feet
In silence and in tears.
If I presume to stand
Amid thy pure and holy ones,
It is thy command,
To lay before thy mercy's seat
My sorrows and my fears,
To wail my life and kiss thy feet
In silence and in tears.
Oh God! that dreadful moment,
In sickness and in strife,
When Death and Hell seemed watching
For the last weak pulse of life,
When on the waves of sin and pain
My drowning soul was tost,
Thy hand of mercy saved me then
When hope itself was lost!
In sickness and in strife,
When Death and Hell seemed watching
For the last weak pulse of life,
144
My drowning soul was tost,
Thy hand of mercy saved me then
When hope itself was lost!
I hear thy voice, my Saviour,
It speaks within my breast,
“Oh, come to me thou weary one,
I'll hush thy cares to rest;”
Then from the parched and burning waste
Of sin where long I trod
I come to thee, thou stream of life,
My Saviour and my God!
It speaks within my breast,
“Oh, come to me thou weary one,
I'll hush thy cares to rest;”
Then from the parched and burning waste
Of sin where long I trod
I come to thee, thou stream of life,
My Saviour and my God!
| The Poems of J. J. Callanan | |