Poem of the Week

The Assumption (An Answer)

Cosmos Purity

Before Earth saw Him, she had felt and known
The small soft feet that thrust like buds in Spring.
The body of Our Lord was all her own
Once. From the cross her arms received her King.

Think you that she, who bore Him on her breast,
Had not the Word still living in her heart?
Or that, because one voice had called her blest,
Her inmost soul had lost the better part?

Henceforth all generations......Ah, but that
You think was an ancient song she knew!
Millions this night will sing Magnificat,
And bring at least one strange prediction true.

Think you His heaven, that deep transcendent state,
Floats like Murillo's picture in the air?
Or that her life, so heavenly consecrate,
Had no essential habitation there?

Think you He looked upon her dying face,
And, throned above His burning seraphim,
Felt no especial tenderness or grace
For her whose life-blood once had throbbed in Him?

Proof of his filial love, His body on earth
Still lives and breathes, and tells us, night and day,
That earth and heaven were mingled in His birth,
Through her, who kneels beside us when we pray;

Kneels to the Word made flesh; Her living faith
Kneels to Incarnate Love, "not lent but given,"
Assumed to her on earth; and, after death,
Assuming her to His own heart in Heaven.

Alfred Noyes. The Tablet 10/28/50, page 375.

HT: U Dayton