Mystic Trees by Michael Field [i.e. K. H. Bradley and E. E. Cooper] |
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| THE PRESENTATION OF OUR
BLESSED LADY |
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 | Mystic Trees |  |
52
THE PRESENTATION OF OUR BLESSED LADY
I
Who is this?
Oh, behold the little thing!
Oh, behold the angels clustering
In a circle of supremest wing,
Following her steps, who is so small,
She against the Temple-stones may fall!
Oh, behold the little thing!
Oh, behold the angels clustering
In a circle of supremest wing,
Following her steps, who is so small,
She against the Temple-stones may fall!
Mary's self it is:
To the Temple-Courts she draweth nigh,
Offering
Her three years beneath the sky
To her King;
With the years that by and by
The years will bring;
And the deep Eternity beside,
Ere the hills were cloven wide,
When with God she did abide—
With her now for her remembering,
With her as a lovely guide.
To the Temple-Courts she draweth nigh,
Offering
Her three years beneath the sky
To her King;
With the years that by and by
The years will bring;
And the deep Eternity beside,
Ere the hills were cloven wide,
When with God she did abide—
With her now for her remembering,
With her as a lovely guide.
53
II
Fair art thou in thy youth,
Deriving from God's truth;
Thou liv'st in meekness, very still,
And fillest as a river with God's Will.
Deriving from God's truth;
Thou liv'st in meekness, very still,
And fillest as a river with God's Will.
Lovely thy feet that climb,
In musical, swift rhyme,
The steps up to the Temple, where all day
Thy portion is to serve:
None tempteth thee to swerve,
Nor sigh at other children in their play.
In musical, swift rhyme,
The steps up to the Temple, where all day
Thy portion is to serve:
None tempteth thee to swerve,
Nor sigh at other children in their play.
When Joseph asks troth-plight,
Fair is he in thy sight,
O Virgin, yet thou feelest the control
Of something that doth keep
Thee closed as in a sleep;
As one asleep thou smilest on his soul:
Fair is he in thy sight,
O Virgin, yet thou feelest the control
Of something that doth keep
Thee closed as in a sleep;
As one asleep thou smilest on his soul:
Or, as the sun that peers
Forth from a cloud, yet steers
No way to cast a radiance on the plain.
Joseph receives thee so,
And mourns, and bows him to his woe,
And mourns that thou shouldst love him back again.
Forth from a cloud, yet steers
No way to cast a radiance on the plain.
Joseph receives thee so,
And mourns, and bows him to his woe,
And mourns that thou shouldst love him back again.
| Mystic Trees | |