Poems (Bacon)/The incarnation
II. THE INCARNATION
"Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee!"
"Speak thou for us: with God we will not speak!"
Ye will have prophet, yea, and saviour too,
And saint and creed and priest to worship through,
Whereat Love smiles and gives them, ye being weak.
And most ye clutch at her, that virgin meek
With cradling arms: ah, child of Love, but who
Curved her soft breast, and taught the dove to coo,
And sent the shepherd forth the lamb to seek?
"Speak thou for us: with God we will not speak!"
Ye will have prophet, yea, and saviour too,
And saint and creed and priest to worship through,
Whereat Love smiles and gives them, ye being weak.
And most ye clutch at her, that virgin meek
With cradling arms: ah, child of Love, but who
Curved her soft breast, and taught the dove to coo,
And sent the shepherd forth the lamb to seek?
Surely great wings are wrapped around our world!
And the one pulse that in us ebbs and flows
Leaps at her name, for she has understood:
In our hearts' lowest leaves her love is curled,
Unshrined, she yet hath comfort for all woes,
If not God's mother, still God's motherhood!
And the one pulse that in us ebbs and flows
Leaps at her name, for she has understood:
In our hearts' lowest leaves her love is curled,
Unshrined, she yet hath comfort for all woes,
If not God's mother, still God's motherhood!