Classic Poem

Summer's come and winter's gone,
The days begin to lengthen;
All the birdies everyone
With joyous song bestir them:
Yet does hard grief hold me in bond
Though all around me thrills the sound
Of gladness.
'Tis all for the sake
Of a Childe so sweet
My sadness.

That princely Childe so debonnair
Whose mind is fashioned rarely,
By wood and hill He sought me out,
Nor lingered on the journey:
At length in dire captivity,
Because of an apple on a tree,
He found me.
With His own wounds
He broke the bonds
That bound me,

That Childe so high-born and so free,
To me He bent Him lowly;
For me to Jews He then was sold,
Who did not know Him surely:
" Upon a tree on yonder hill, "
They said, " we'll nail Him fast and well,
All ruthless:
But first we'll heap
All over Him
Shame soothless. "

Jesus is that Childe's fair name;
King of all the world, He:
Yet those Jews made game of Him,
With their hands they smote this King,
So tried Him sore; then on the tree
They gave Him wounds first two then three,
Most spiteful:
Of bitter drink
They offered Him
A cupful.

Yet had He not been nailed
Upon that cruel tree,
He who is our true life,
Naught other would it be
But that in hell we all should boil
And never taste refreshment: all
Would fail us:
Nor castle, tower
Nor baron's power
Could save us.

Mary, favoured with all grace,
Maid and mother, there she stood;
Upon the ground her tears fell fast,
And all her tears were tears of blood,
The course ran with His blood
And none who saw His face
Would know Him:
He was so drawn
As deer when slain
At hunting.

So death He took, that gentle Childe,
Upon a high rood tree;
With His own blood He washed away
Our sins whate'er they be:
And on the flood He passed down
And broke the gates of hell that frowned
So proudly:
And chaced them out
Who gods them thought
Ungodly.

Then on the third day He did rise,
And on His throne He set Him:
He'll come again at judgment day
And give each man his tithing.
Groan he may and weep alway
Who dies in sin; for him 'tis aye
Outlawry:
But grant us, Christ,
With Thee to rise