XLI.

Quaerit Jesum suum beata Virgo. Luc. ii. 45. Ah, redeas miserae, redeas, puer alme, parenti; Ah, neque te coelis tam cito redde tuis. Coelum nostra tuum fuerint, ô, brachia, si te Nostra suum poterunt brachia ferre Deum.

The blessed Virgin seeks Jesus.

Ah, to Thy mother, ah, return,

my fair, beloved Son;

Return not to Thy native skies,

my heaven-descended One.

Thy mother's arms Thy heaven would be,

enfolding Thee around;

If thus within these innocent arms

the great God might be found.1

G.

XLII.

Non sum dignus ut sub tecta mea venias. Matt. viii. 8.

In tua tecta Deus veniet: tuus haud sinit illud
Et pudor atque humili in pectore celsa fides.
Illum ergo accipies, quoniam non accipis: ergo

In te jam veniet, non tua tecta Deus.2

1 Cf. Crashaw's own hitherto unpublished poem, amplifying

the epigram, in Airelles,' vol. i. pp. 185-6. G.

* Barksdale, as before, thus renders the closing couplet:

'Thou receiv'st and receiv'st not Christ; for He

Comes not into thy house, but into thee.'

XLIV.

Nunc dimittis. Luc. ii. 29.

Spesne meas tandem ergo mei tenuere lacerti?
Ergo bibunt oculos lumina nostra tuos?
Ergo bibant: possintque novam sperare juventam :
O possint senii non meminisse sui!

Immo mihi potius mitem mors induat umbram,
Esse sub his oculis si tamen umbra potest.
Ah, satis est. Ego te vidi, puer auree, vidi:
Nil post te, nisi te, Christe, videre volo.1

Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.
And is my hope grasp'd in these arms of mine
At last, and do these eyes drink light from Thine?
There let them drink with a new youth in store,

And feel the dimming touch of age no more.

Nay rather, if Thine eyes can give it room,
Let Death's soft shadow gently o'er them come.
Thee have I seen, O Child: enough for me :
I care not to behold aught else but Thee.

XLV.

Verbum inter spinas. Luc. viii. 7.

Saepe Dei verbum sentes cadit inter, et atrum

Miscet spina procax, ah, male juncta! latus. Credo quidem: nam sic spinas, ah, scilicet inter Ipse Deus verbum tu quoque, Christe, cadis.

CL.

1 Barksdale, as before, translates the last couplet thus: 'Enough! I have seen, have seen my Saviour: Beside Thee, Christ, I would see nothing more.'

VOL. II.

k

The blind cured by the word of our Saviour.

Thou spak'st the word-Thy word's a law;
Thou spak'st, and straight the blind man saw.
To speak and make the blind to see,
Was never man, Lord, spake like Thee.
To speak thus was to speak, say I,

Not to his eare, but to his eye.

XLVIII.

Onus meum leve est. Matt. xi. 30.

Esse levis quicunque voles, onus accipe Christi:
Ala tuis humeris, non onus, illud erit.

CR.

Christi onus an quaeris quam sit grave scilicet audi, Tam grave, ut ad summos te premat usque polos.

My burden is light.

Askest how thou may'st lightly loaded be?

Christ's burden take from me :

A wing to lift, no load to press thee down,
Thou it wilt feel and own.

Dost ask how heavy may Christ's burden be?

Then list, O man, to me:

So heavy, that whoe'er 'neath it enrolls,

It lifts to the highest poles.

XLIX.

Miraculum quinque panum. Joan. vi. 1-13.

Ecce, vagi venit unda cibi; venit indole sacra
Fortis, et in dentes fertilis innumeros.

G.