And while thou go'st, our song and we
Will, as we may, reach after thee.
Hail, holy queen of humble hearts!

We in thy praise will have our parts.

And though thy dearest looks must now give light

To none but the blest heavens, whose bright

Beholders, lost in sweet delight,

Feed for ever their fair sight

With those divinest eyes, which we

And our dark world no more shall see ;
Though our poor eyes are parted so,
Yet shall our lips never let go
Thy gracious name, but to the last,
Our loving song shall hold it fast.*
Thy precious name shall be
Thyself to us; and we

With holy care will keep it by us,

We to the last

Will hold it fast,

And no Assumption shall deny us.

All the sweetest showers

Of our fairest flowers

Will we strow upon it.

Though our sweets cannot make

It sweeter, they can take

Themselves new sweetness from it.

* The edition of 1652 lacks this and the preceding nine lines.

They occur in the 1648 version. —Ed.

Maria, men and angels sing,

Maria, mother of our King.

Live, rosy princess, live! and may the bright
Crown of a most incomparable light

Embrace thy radiant brows. O may the best
Of everlasting joys bathe thy white breast.
Live, our chaste love, the holy mirth
Of Heaven; the humble pride of Earth.
Live, crown of women; queen of men ;
Live, mistress of our song. And when
Our weak desires have done their best,
Sweet angels come, and sing the rest.

-:0:

Saint Mary Magdalene, or The Weeper.

Lo! where a wounded heart with bleeding eyes conspire,
Is she a flaming fountain, or a weeping fire?

THE WEEPER.

I.*

Hail, sister springs !

Parents of silver-footed rills!

Ever-bubbling things!

Thawing crystal! snowy hills
Still spending, never spent! I mean

Thy fair eyes, sweet Magdalene !

* In the main, the succession of stanzas as in 1646 edition has been adopted.-Ed.

II.

Heavens thy fair eyes be;
Heavens of ever-falling stars.

'Tis seed-time still with thee;

And stars thou sow'st, whose harvest dares Promise the Earth to countershine

Whatever makes heaven's forehead fine.

III.

But we are deceived all :
Stars indeed they are too true:
For they but seem to fall,

As Heaven's other spangles do;
It is not for our Earth and us,
To shine in things so precious.

IV.

Upwards thou dost weep,

Heaven's bosom drinks the gentle stream. Where th' milky rivers creep,

Thine floats above, and is the cream.

Waters above th' heavens, what they be

We are taught best by thy tears and thee.

V.

Every morn from hence,

A brisk cherub something sips,

Whose sacred influence

Adds sweetness to his sweetest lips;

Then to his music; and his song

Tastes of this breakfast all day long.*

VI.

When some new bright guest
Takes up among the stars a room,
And Heaven will make a feast:

Angels with crystal phials come
And draw from these full eyes of thine,
Their Master's water, their own wine.

VII.

The dew no more will weep
The primrose's pale cheek to deck:
The dew no more will sleep

Nuzzel'd in the lily's neck;

Much rather would it be thy tear,

And leave them both to tremble here.

VIII.

Not the soft gold which

Steals from the amber-weeping tree,

Makes Sorrow half so rich

As the drops distill'd from thee.

Sorrow's best jewels lie in these

Caskets, of which Heaven keeps the keys.

We drop here a stanza of our 1652 text, for the reason that it was inadvertantly inserted there, belonging, without question, to another poem.--Ed.

IX.

When Sorrow would be seen

In her brightest majesty :

(For she is a Queen):

Then is she dress'd by none but thee.

Then, and only then, she wears

Her proudest pearls: I mean, thy tears.

X.

Not in the Evening eyes,

When they red with weeping are

For the Sun that dies;

Sits Sorrow with a face so fair.

Nowhere but here did ever meet

Sweetness so sad, sadness so sweet.

XI.

Sadness all the while

She sits in such a throne as this,

Can do nought but smile,

Nor believes she Sadness is:

Gladness itself would be more glad,
To be made so sweetly sad.*

XII.

There's no need at all,

That the balsam-sweating bough

So coyly should let fall

His med'cinable tears; for now

* This stanza is restored from the version of 1646.-Ed.