IX. THE PENITENT ANOINTING CHRIST'S FEET. THERE was a mournfulness in angel eyes, That saw thee, woman! bright in this world's train, Moving to pleasure's airy melodies, Thyself the idol of the enchanted strain. But from thy beauty's garland, brief and vain, When one by one the rose-leaves had been torn, When thy heart's core had quiver'd to the pain Through every life-nerve sent by arrowy scorn; When thou didst kneel to pour sweet odours forth On the Redeemer's feet, with many a sigh, And showering tear-drop, of yet richer worth Than all those costly balms of Araby; Then was there joy, a song of joy in heaven, For thee, the child won back, the penitent forgiven! X.-MARY AT THE FEET OF CHRIST. OH! bless'd beyond all daughters of the earth! 'Midst the world's eager tones and footsteps flying Thou, whose calm soul was like a well-spring, lying So deep and still in its transparent rest, That e'en when noontide burns upon the hills, Some one bright solemn star all its lone mirror fills. XI. THE SISTERS OF BETHANY AFTER THE DEATH OF LAZARUS. ONE grief, one faith, O sisters of the dead! Was in your bosoms-thou, whose steps, made fleet By keen hope fluttering in the heart which bled, Bore thee, as wings, the Lord of Life to greet; And thou, that duteous in thy still retreat Didst wait his summons-then with reverent love Fall weeping at the bless'd Deliverer's feet, Whom e'en to heavenly tears thy woe could move. And which to Him, the All Seeing and All Just, Was loveliest, that quick zeal, or lowly trust? Oh! question not, and let no law be given To those unveilings of its deepest shrine, By the wrung spirit made in outward sign: Free service from the heart is all in all to Heaven. XII. THE MEMORIAL OF MARY. "Verily I say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her."-MATTHEW, xxvi. 13.-See also JOHN, xii. 3. THOU hast thy record in the monarch's hall; And on the waters of the far mid sea; And where the mighty mountain-shadows fall, XIII. THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM AT THE CROSS. LIKE those pale stars of tempest hours, whose gleam Waves calm and constant on the rocking mast, Such by the cross doth your bright lingering seem, Daughters of Zion! faithful to the last ! Ye, through the darkness o'er the wide earth cast O blessed faith! a guiding lamp, that hour Bidding her bind each tendril of her life, To that which her deep soul hath proved of holiest worth. VOL. VII. XIV.-MARY MAGDALENE AT THE SEPULCHRE. WEEPER! to thee how bright a morn was given When that high voice which burial rocks had riven, death Was thus reveal'd! and thou, that so hadst err'd, So wept, and been forgiven, in trembling faith Didst cast thee down before the all-conquering Son, Awed by the mighty gift thy tears and love had won! XV. MARY MAGDALENE BEARING TIDINGS OF THE RESURRECTION. THEN was a task of glory all thine own, The stormy splendours of some prophet's mind. First on its way, with those high tidings fraught"Christ is arisen !"—Thou, thou, the sin enthrall'd, Earth's outcast, Heaven's own ransom'd one, wert call'd In human hearts to give that rapture birth: Oh! raised from shame to brightness!—there doth lie The tenderest meaning of His ministry, Whose undespairing love still own'd the spirit's worth. THE TWO MONUMENTS.* "Oh! bless'd are they who live and die like 'him,' WORDSWORTH. BANNERS hung drooping from on high Making a gorgeous canopy O'er a noble, noble grave! And a marble warrior's form beneath, As on his battle-bed of death, Triumph yet linger'd in his eye, Ere by the dark night seal'd, * Suggested by a passage in Captain Sherer's "Notes and Reflections during a Ramble in Germany." |