Classic Poem

PART II. Act V. L AST S CENE .

C HORUS OF R EPENTANT W OMEN .

Upward thou art soaring
 To regions eternal;
Hear our imploring,
 Thou, peerless, supernal,
Thou rich to o'erflowing
 In pardoning grace.

M AGNA P ECCATRIX

By the love, that bent in weeping
 O'er thy Son, divinely born,
His feet with balmy tear-drops steeping
 Spite of Pharisaic scorn;
By the box, that dropped profusely
 Ointment precious, odour fine;
By the tresses, clustering loosely,
 That did wipe the limbs divine.

M ULIER S AMARITANA .

By the spring, whereto in dim
 Far ages Abraham's flocks were led;
By the pitcher's cooling rim,
 That touched his lips, the Saviour dread,
By the clear, full source that now
 Wells out there in stream abundant,
Through the universe to flow,
 Ever sparkling and redundant.

M ARIA Æ GYPTIACA ( Acta Sanctorum ).

By that hallowed spot and dear,
 Where was laid the Lord Immortal;
By the arm in warning clear
 Raised, that thrust me from its portal;
By the forty years I passed,
 In deserts lone, of true repentance;
By what on the sand at last
 I traced, a blessèd farewell sentence.

T HE T HREE .

Thou, who from the greatly sinning
 Never dost avert thy face,
Still for their repentance winning
 An eternal resting-place,
To her, who only once forgot
 Herself, vouchsafe thy blessing—
To her, who fell, yet weeted not
 Wherein she was transgressing.

U NA P ENITENTIUM ( formerly called Margaret ).

Incline, incline,
Peerless One, bright
With effulgence of light,
Unto my bliss thy glance benign.