Words for the Hour/Dilexit Multum
DILEXIT MULTUM.
Could I portray thy face, illuminateWith the high glory that it had for me,Or deathless carve, in marble's sainted state,The record of thy vanished majesty;
Or could I, like the grief-inspired of old,Dream out some Minster of divinest form,Arch within arch, to cherish and enfoldLove's passing holiness from waste or worm;
Or could I rear towards heav'n a life of good,Whose date were from our meeting, faultless, strong,With every thought sublimed and prayer-endued,The annals of my days should praise thee long.
But gifts like these I have not, to embalm,Enshrine, englorify thy memory;Only, from stammering lips, the fitful psalmWhose music wavers, when it speaks of thee.
Yet take my offering—Nature's simple skillShall stead for thee the perfect form of Art,And my love's record, like to Mary's, dwellRich in the shattered vase and lavish heart.