So to receive, as to be thine above.
Thou heedest, then, that three swift lustres, wending
O’er Time’s winged course, have made me soberer now;
That maidenhood with infancy is blending,
To cast a shade of thought upon my brow?
As the meek virgin merges in the woman,
Aid me to drink of waters more divine;
To purify the needful, earnest, human,
And lay soul-offerings on a holy shrine.
Upon this day, that sealed her blissful union,