For now lies ded my dere Sone dere.
Thou hast thi sone ful whole and sounde
And myn is ded upon my kne,
Thi childe is lose, and myn is bounde,
Thy childe is lyf, and myn—ded is He!
Whi was this, doghter, but for the?
For my Childe trespast never here;
Me think ye be holden to wepe with me,
For now lies ded my dere Sone dere.
The mystery, entitled “The Wepynge of the Thre Maries,” is a dramatic paraphrase of the Gospel history, told in the same homely and pathetic strain. It is thus that St. Mary Magdalene describes Our Ladye at the foot of the Cross:—