As punishment
To one whom sin should bind in prison,
Hath Mercy sent
Word of the crucified arisen!
Guilt’s penalty
Exacted—past my reeling reason!—
Which lays on me
Love—as a whip fit for my Treason!
AFTER COMMUNION
NOW art Thou in my house of feeble flesh,
O Word made flesh! My burning soul by Thine
Caught mystically in a living mesh!
Now is the royal banquet, now the wine,
The body broken by the courteous Host
Who is my humble Guest—a Guest adored—
Though once I spat upon, scourged at the post,
Hounded to Calvary and slew my Lord!
My name is Legion, but separate and alone;
Wash, wash, dear Crucified, my Pilate hand!
Rejected Stone, be Thou my corner-stone!
Like Mary at the cross’s foot I stand;
Like Magdalene upon my sins I grieve;
Like Thomas do I touch Thee and believe.
THE UNIVERSAL MOTHER
WHO standing thrilled in his bewilderment
Can tell thy humble ways,
The hidden paths on which thy white feet went
Through all thy lonely days?
From what deep root the Lily of the Lord
To grace and beauty grew,
Or in what fires was tempered the keen sword
That pierced thy bosom through?