Upon the Bleeding Crucifix :

A SONG.

I.

Jesu, no more! It is full tide;

From Thy hands and from Thy feet, From Thy head, and from Thy side, All the purple rivers meet.

II.

blood and flowing

What need Thy fair head bear a part
In showers, as if Thine eyes had none?
What need they help to drown Thy heart,
That strives in torrents of its own?

III.

Water'd by the showers they bring,

The thorns that Thy blest brow encloses

(A cruel and a costly spring)

Conceive proud hopes of proving roses.*

IV.

Thy restless feet now cannot go

For us and our eternal good,

As they were ever wont. What though?

They swim, alas! in their own flood.

ewage of heart and
tears contendue,
with each other.

mixed image

of fect swiming

This blood

thing is That

* This Stanza is not given in the 1652 Edition: it occurs in ed. of 1646:-Ed.

li

V.

Thy hand to give Thou canst not lift ;

Yet wilt Thy hand still giving be.

It gives, but O itself's the gift:

It gives though bound; though bound 'tis free.

VI.

But, O Thy side! Thy deep-digg'd side!
That hath a double Nilus going:
Nor ever was the Pharian tide

Half so fruitful, half so flowing.

VII.

No hair so small, but pays his river
To this Red Sea of Thy blood;
Their little channels can deliver

Something to the general flood.

VIII.

But while I speak, whither are run
All the rivers named before?

I counted wrong: there is but one ;
But O that one is one all o'er.

final mage is not lite op.

but natural and

has

IX.

Rain-swol❜n rivers may rise proud,
Bent all to drown and overflow;

But when indeed all's overflow'd,
They themselves are drowned too.

profounder

meaning

Classical

puls up.

alone.

smages to this point

and the twi to

all

X.

This Thy blood's deluge (a dire chance,

Dear Lord, to Thee) to us is found

A deluge of deliverance;

A deluge lest we should be drown'd.

Ne'er wast Thou in a sense so sadly true,
The well of living waters, Lord, till now.

-:0:

Upon The Crown of Thorns taken down
from the head of Our Blessed Lord,
all Bloody.

Know'st thou this, Soldier? 'tis a much changed plant,

which yet

Thyself didst set,

'Tis changed indeed; did Autumn e'er such beauties bring besting fun

To shame his Spring ?* Oh! who so hard a husbandman could ever find

A soil so kind?

Is not the soil a kind one (think ye) that returns

Roses for thorns?

Comes fum.

them I h

ryiction)

unlike natur

i whih

* Lines third and fourth are not given in the ed. of 1652.-Ed.

CARMEN DEO NOSTRO.

Upon The Body of Our Blessed Lord,
Naked and Bloody.

They have left Thee naked, Lord; O that they had!
This garment too I would they had denied.
Thee with Thyself they have too richly clad;

Opening the purple wardrobe in Thy side.
O never could there be garment too good
For Thee to wear, but this of Thine own blood.

blood as a

gaunent.

:0:

The hymn of St. Thomas,

IN ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT.

With all the powers my poor heart hath

Of humble love and loyal faith, .

Thus low (my hidden life!) I bow to Thee,

a dressing

Whom too much love hath bow'd more low for me.
Down, down, proud Sense! discourses die!

Keep close, my soul's inquiring eye!

Nor touch nor taste must look for more,
But each sit still in his own door.

Your ports are all superfluous here, Save that which lets in Faith, the ear. e ear. Faith is my skill; Faith can believe As fast as Love new laws can give.

желый

the

may

Faith is my force: Faith strength affords
To keep pace with those pow'rful words.

And words more sure, more sweet than they,
Love could not think, Truth could not say.

O let Thy wretch find that relief
Thou didst afford the faithful thief.
Plead for me, Love! allege and show
That Faith has farther here to go,

And less to lean on: because then

Though hid as God, wounds writ Thee man;
Thomas might touch, none but might see
At least the suffering side of Thee;

And that too was Thyself which Thee did cover,
But here ev'n that's hid too which hides the other.

Sweet, consider then, that I,

Though allowed nor hand nor eye
To reach at Thy loved face; nor can
Taste Thee God, or touch Thee man,
Both yet believe, and witness Thee
My Lord too, and my God, as loud as he.

Help, Lord, my faith, my hope increase,

And fill my portion in Thy peace:

Give love for life; nor let my days

Grow, but in new powers to Thy name and praise.

O dear memorial of that Death

Which lives still, and allows us breath!