Thou sacred, sorrowing mother, canst thou learn-- Thou who hast gone so softly in G.o.d"s sight-- Of me, the scarlet woman of old days?
Come, let us talk together, thou and I.
Apart, we see him darkly, through a gla.s.s; Together, we shall surely see aright.
Bring thou thine innocence, thy stainless soul, And I will bring deep lore of suffering, My dear-bought wisdom of defeat and pain.
For out of these may come, believe it thou, Sanct.i.ties not like thine, but fit to bear The bitter storms and whirlwinds of this world.
Aye, out of evil often springeth good, And sweetest honey from the lion"s mouth.
And that he knew. That very thing he meant When he withdrew me from the pits of shame.
"T is I who see G.o.d shining through the man.
I see the deity, the G.o.dlike strength In his supreme capacity for pain.
Nor have I known the cruel love of men These many years to err when now I say This man loved not like men but like a G.o.d.
Thou broken mother, weep not for the child, Mourn not the man. Acclaim the risen Christ!"
She turned and touched the other lovingly, Then stooped and peered into her darkened face.
The mother slept, forspent and overborne By weariness and woe too great to bear.
She gently smiled. "So it is best," she said.
Tall and elate she stood, her shadowy hair Blown back along the darkness and her eyes That searched the distant s.p.a.ces of the night Splendid and glowing with an inward joy.
And over that dark hill of tragedy And triumph, victory and dull despair, Over the sleeping Roman soldiery, Over the three stark crosses and the two Who loved Him most, the lily and the rose, Shone still and clear the great compa.s.sionate stars.
THE END
NOTE
Some of these poems have been published before in _The Sunset Magazine, The Smart Set, Munsey"s Magazine, The Bellman, The International, The Overland Monthly, The Youth"s Companion, Poetry--A Magazine of Verse, The Harvard Graduates" Magazine, The Book News Monthly, Current Opinion, The Literary Digest, The Boston Transcript_, and the _Anthologies of Magazine Verse_ for 1915 and 1916. I wish to thank the editors of those publications in which they originally appeared for permission to reprint.
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE . Ma.s.sACHUSETTS
U . S . A