The charm which God set for Himself when the divinity within Him was darkened.
A charm to be said by the cross when the night is black and the soul is heavy with sorrow.
A charm to be said at sunrise, with the hands on the breast, when the eyes are red with weeping, and the madness of grief is strong.
A charm that has no words, only the silent prayer.
TO WIN LOVE.
“O Christ, by your five wounds, by the nine orders of angels, if this woman is ordained for me, let me hold her hand now, and breathe her breath. O my love, I set a charm to the top of your head; to the sole of your foot; to each side of your breast, that you may not leave me nor forsake me. As a foal after the mare, as a child after the mother, may you follow and stay with me till death comes to part us asunder. Amen.”
Another.
A charm of most desperate love, to be written with a raven’s quill in the blood of the ring finger of the left hand.
“By the power that Christ brought from heaven, mayest thou love me, woman! As the sun follows its course, mayest thou follow me. As light to the eye, as bread to the hungry, as joy to the heart, may thy presence be with me, O woman that I love, till death comes to part us asunder.”