Page:Songs before sunrise (IA beforesunrisongs00swinrich).pdf/76

64

BLESSED AMONG WOMEN.

To the Signora Cairoli.

1.

Blessed was she that bare,

Hidden in flesh most fair,
For all men’s sake the likeness of all love;
Holy that virgin’s womb,
The old record saith, on whom
The glory of God alighted as a dove;
Blessed, who brought to gracious birth
The sweet-souled Saviour of a man-tormented earth.

2.

But four times art thou blest,

At whose most holy breast
Four times a godlike soldier-saviour hung;
And thence a fourfold Christ
Given to be sacrificed
To the same cross as the same bosom clung;
Poured the same blood, to leave the same
Light on the many-folded mountain-skirts of fame.