Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/1003

          What is here, dost thou know it?
            What was, hast thou known?
          Prophet nor poet
            Nor tripod nor throne
Nor spirit nor flesh can make answer, but only thy mother alone.

          Mother, not maker,
            Born, and not made;
          Though her children forsake her,
            Allured or afraid,
Praying prayers to the God of their fashion, she stirs not for all that have pray'd.

          A creed is a rod,
            And a crown is of night;
          But this thing is God,
            To be man with thy might,
To grow straight in the strength of thy spirit, and live out thy life as the light.

          I am in thee to save thee,
            As my soul in thee saith;
          Give thou as I gave thee,
            Thy life-blood and breath,
Green leaves of thy labour, white flowers of thy thought, and red fruit of thy death.

          Be the ways of thy giving
            As mine were to thee;
          The free life of thy living,
            Be the gift of it free;
Not as servant to lord, nor as master to slave, shalt thou give thee to me.