Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/249

That moved to anger; yet the speech that vexed
The sorest, often was but Love perplext
To find one common tongue; but now the sun
Hath fallen on you, all your task is done;
Ye sit within the House with One whose kind
Prevailing counsels bring unto one mind
Its inmates, making Brethren to agree,
And oft ye marvel that ye did not find
Each other sooner, soul in soul doth see
One kindred image shine, no longer dim
 Through contact of its gold with baser clay—
 The fruit is ripe, its husks have dropt away,
And ye are only what ye were in Him!

        Oh! Virgin Lilies rayed
With light and loveliness, that did declare
His perfect beauty here, that grew so fair
By only gazing on Him! from the shade
Where God hath planted me I have essayed
To reach unto your sunshine! though you keep
Your silence even from good words, I miss
No sign of greeting, nor have need of kiss
For sealing of our love, for this is clear
That ye are near me when I draw most near
To Him in Whom we meet: I see you shine
In Christ, as once I marked above a shrine
By midnight clear, yet moonless, pictured fair
A Virgin Mother in a lowly place
Bend o'er a sleeping infant; full of grace
His brow and lip; with gifts and odours rare