THE SAD YEARS
HEROD
The Virgin speaks:
Draw back the starry curtains of the night,
O Cherubim, and Seraphim!
Pull back the purple curtains of the night,
For I would look once more upon the world,
That ere my sorrows made some young delight
In bird and bee and each earth-flower uncurled.
Cherubim: “Sancta Virgo Virginum.”
Let me behold a garden rich with fruit,
The pomegranate in shade of cypress trees,
Vines and wild honey, and the small bees' lute,
Where aromatic spices fill the breeze.
Seraphim: “Virgo fidelis.”
Let me behold again all unafraid,
Fair Bethlehem and grey Egyptian sands,
Let me but see the spreading cedar's shade
Where once I hid in half-forgotten lands.
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