Our falterings in the pure, bright air.

But strive we pure and bright to be

In spirit. Else how vain of thee

Our earnest dreamings, awful Bride!

Feel we the sword that pierced thy side;

Thy spotless lily-flower, so clear of hue,

Shrinks from the breath impure, the tongue untrue.”[173]

Another poet, once an Anglican, then a Catholic priest, and now passed into the land where the mists of [pg 380] controversy are cleared away, attained a higher plane of truth in regard to the Mother of our Lord:

“But scornful men have boldly said

Thy love was leading me from God;