ANIMA CHRISTI
 
 ANIMA CHRISTI 
 
 JCr'S.^ FLETCHER 
 
 BRADFORD : 
 
 ]. S. FLETCHER & CO. 9 NEW I^N BUILDINGS 
 
 THORNTON ROAD 
 
 1884
 
 O Soul of Christ Whom, seeing not, we know, 
 O Mighty Influence working by strange ways 
 Unto the destined end, be Thine the praise 
 
 That any soul is brought from endless woe, 
 
 From suffering and the life which is below 
 Unto the searching presence of the blaze 
 Of Thy High Heaven. Here in this ^i3orldly maze, 
 
 Where few friends are and mighty is the foe, 
 We wander, looking upward to Thy Heaven, 
 
 Sinning and sinned against from day to day, 
 Soul-sick, mind-tossed, and sometimes from Thee driven, 
 
 Yet not by Thee permitted far to stray. 
 Ah the blest joy when we, from all sin shriven, 
 
 O Soul of Christ, shall be with Thee for aye !
 
 PART THE FIRST.
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 I. i. 
 
 I believe in nothing whatever, for life is a sham 
 
 and a lie, 
 Life with its wonderful shiftings and ceaseless 
 
 changes of scene, 
 Which has come to me unasked, and is passing 
 
 me quickly by, 
 So quickly that soon 'twill have gone altogether, 
 
 and I shall have been.
 
 Anima Christi. 
 
 ii. 
 And I know not if 'tis worth living, but live it I 
 
 will and must, 
 Where it will lead to I know not, nor care, but 
 
 one thing I know, 
 There is no such thing as a God, be He cruel 
 
 and faithless, or just ; 
 Nor is there eternal gladness or never-ending 
 
 woe. 
 
 iii. 
 A God? O mad, fond blindness, that men should 
 
 be such fools 
 As to dream of something better than what 
 
 themselves they are ! 
 Away with all their precepts and the learning of 
 
 their schools, 
 And their dogmatised theology imported from 
 
 afar!
 
 Part the First. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Gods and religions and systems there must be 
 
 a thousand or more. 
 If each God-believing sect is, as it thinks it is, 
 
 quite in the right : 
 List to them now, just listen, how they bellow 
 
 and wrangle and roar, 
 And keep up their wordy mouthings through day 
 
 and through eve and through night ! 
 
 v. 
 Which of them has it ? Why, none ; they are all 
 
 of them liars and knaves, 
 All preaching and praying for gold, and 
 
 hugging themselves in fear 
 Of their lucre slipping away, ah, yes, they are 
 
 thorough slaves 
 To their own base motives keep off them, and 
 
 go not near.
 
 Aninia Christi. 
 
 VI. 
 
 For their fever is highly infectious and might 
 seize one. But which of the lot 
 
 Should one take as a prophet where each thinks 
 the other is wrong ? 
 
 For one says his is the true faith, and another 
 bawls out it is not, 
 
 And the noise is more than confusing, yet 
 
 somehow they all jog along. 
 
 
 
 vii. 
 And Papist elbows Protestant, and shows him 
 
 the stake and the fire, 
 And grinds in his unwilling ears a babble of 
 
 barbarous words, 
 And moving his puppet-like flocks by some 
 
 invisible wire 
 He sets them to wipe out sin by means of armies 
 
 and swords.
 
 Part the First. 
 
 Vlll. 
 
 And one, like a clown in a circus, tricks him out 
 
 with dresses and gauds, 
 And lights his candles before him and offers up 
 
 the Host, 
 While another preaches him down with blatant 
 
 hurrying words : 
 And two more wrangle yonder about the Holy 
 
 Ghost. 
 
 ix. 
 And one says Christ was God, and another says 
 
 Nay, 'tis not so. 
 And a creature there says the Spirit came both 
 
 from Father and Son, 
 While his neighbour laughs him to scorn, as 
 
 though he himself should know, 
 And tells him with show of learning that It only 
 
 proceeded from One.
 
 Anima Christi. 
 
 x. 
 
 And each is wrangling and wrangling, and 
 
 struggling along in the fight 
 Of sects and systems and churches, and tells you, 
 
 with countenance bold, 
 That he, as others are wrong, is surely in the 
 
 right, 
 And that there only is one Shepherd, and that 
 
 He has but one fold !
 
 Part the First. 
 
 II. i. 
 
 No, I will have no dealing with these : 
 They may wear out their horny knees 
 Ere ever I pray to their God to help me ! 
 How can a God that is served in so many ways 
 Be worthy of praise ? 
 That I cannot see.
 
 io Anima Christ i. 
 
 They would doubtless tell me a so-called truth 
 
 Out of that strange old book 
 
 Their Bible, in which I never look 
 
 Except to read a simple story 
 
 Which to me is possest of a wondrous glory, 
 
 And which is contained in the Book of Ruth. 
 
 ii. 
 
 For I remember well, too well, 
 How my mother was wont to tell, 
 Long years since in the happy hours 
 Of childhood, how amidst the flowers 
 And golden stubble, beneath the bright 
 Eastern skies with their burning light, 
 Ruth went gleaning in Boaz' sight. 
 I remember, as though 'twere yesterday, 
 When my sister and I were tired of play, 
 How she would call us to her knee
 
 Part the First. n 
 
 And tell us of Ruth, and bid us be 
 Like her, obedient, good, and kind. 
 
 And now she is dead, and lies enshrined 
 Down there in the aisle of the little church, 
 Where she used to make such wondrous 
 
 search 
 
 After this God that they preach of and pray to. 
 For she went and prayed there thrice a day. 
 If any-one knows it, she knew the way to 
 The heaven one hears of once in a way. 
 
 iii. I :-V; ; - 
 
 And when I was a child I used to go 
 With her to the little church below 
 In the valley, and listen to what was said 
 By the surpliced and stoled one overhead, 
 Who was High in his doctrine, and preached 
 ex tempore,
 
 12 Anima Chnsti. 
 
 And said he could show us the way to glory, 
 
 Though he ended by nearly going to jail. 
 
 For he and his Bishop could never get on, 
 
 And the Parson would have six candles upon 
 
 His Holy Altar, and thurify it 
 
 With Incense, perhaps to purify it ; 
 
 And his reading ended with a wail 
 
 Of intonation ; his singing choir, 
 
 Who sang while he took time to respire, 
 
 Were clothed in short bed-gowns white as 
 
 snow, 
 
 With a long,, black, high-necked garment below, 
 While he himself was wrapped and covered 
 In Albes and Copes. He scraped and bowed 
 When he stood at the Altar, as though there 
 
 hovered 
 Some wonderful being in the Incense-cloud.
 
 Part the First. 13 
 
 And he wouldn't say some of the prayers aloud. 
 And he preached Real Presence, and called 
 
 Confession 
 
 A Means of Grace, and said that when death 
 Took away from the body its life and breath, 
 The soul didn't go straight off to Heaven, 
 But was helped to get there by Intercession. 
 And news of this to the Bishop was given, 
 Who, being Low Church, and prosy, and old, 
 And thoroughly Protestant, very soon told 
 This zealous priest, his Christian brother 
 Most dearly beloved, to seek out another 
 Sphere of work, or to drop such preaching, 
 For he would have no Catholic teaching 
 Nor Catholic service within his realm. 
 But this didn't seem to overwhelm 
 The parson, whose people defended him,
 
 14 Anima Chris ti. 
 
 Till at length the Bishop, in sorrow and tears, 
 Gave him a holiday for three years, 
 Or, in other words, suspended him. 
 
 Yet it did no good his being away, 
 For his curates did things the very same way, 
 Maybe adding some details more 
 In the matter of dresses and candles, and when 
 The parson came back to his church again, 
 All went on as it did before. 
 
 iv. 
 
 But, as an outsider, I never could see 
 What sort of a system that might be 
 Which gave one man, who, as I knew, 
 Was a very worldly old being, the power 
 To tell another who was as true 
 And courteous a one, though spoiled by the blind
 
 Part the First. 15 
 
 Belief in a God which lived in his mind, 
 
 That he only should preach when he, his Lord 
 
 In spiritual power, should give him the word. 
 
 But of course it was one of these Christians' laws 
 
 Of brotherly love. I remember now 
 
 How the Bishop and Parson once had a row 
 
 Of wordy argument, all because 
 
 The latter would preach in a coloured stole, 
 
 Now, what could that have to do with the soul ?
 
 1 6 Amnia Christi. 
 
 III. 
 
 Well, let them wrangle and fight, 
 Their God and they can make it up at last. 
 I will have none of them, for I know 
 When they say there is God that it is not so. 
 The days of God and Religion are past ! 
 The world is waking all over to own the great 
 being, Man !
 
 Part the First. 17 
 
 Is Man a thing so weak and slight 
 
 As to have to trust on a God which he cannot 
 
 see ? 
 
 I would sooner the whole race ran 
 And pressed its native earth with bended knee 
 To a god of wood, or copper, or stone, 
 Than that it should trust on a God which it saw 
 
 by faith alone.
 
 1 8 Anima Christ L 
 
 IV. i. 
 
 Gods were well enough in the days of primeval 
 
 earth, 
 They fitted in with the customs and suited the 
 
 savage times, 
 For they sacrificed babes to them then, which 
 
 had only just known birth, 
 In the hope that the blood-loving being would 
 
 smile on their murderous climes.
 
 Part the First. 19 
 
 Us 
 
 We are nothing better now, for men trust what 
 
 they do not see, 
 And look to another world when they shall have 
 
 lost their breath 
 And taken their leave of this one ; so think they, 
 
 but as for me, 
 I know there is no Hereafter, and that Death is 
 
 an endless Death. 
 
 iii. 
 Heaven and Hell ? There is neither, and there 
 
 certainly is no God 
 To will man away to either. Ah, well, let them 
 
 rest in their faith 
 In this wondrously mixed-up Something that 
 
 could damn them with a nod, 
 This God and his religion of phantom and of 
 
 wraith !
 
 2O Anima Christ i. 
 
 iv. 
 I will have none of either, I believe in nothing 
 
 at all, 
 I look on all that is with a quite indifferent 
 
 mind ; 
 I hate all priestcraft and praying as though they 
 
 were bitterest gall ; 
 I am a law to myself in myself, and I throw all 
 
 else to the wind.
 
 Part the First. 21 
 
 V. i. 
 
 I dreamt last night my mother came and said 
 
 That I should not be happy while I kept 
 
 These dark dim notions in my head : 
 
 And then she went, and, when again I slept, 
 
 My sister, golden-haired and azure-eyed, 
 
 Who died at ten, came to my side 
 
 Dressed in pure white and crowned with stars
 
 22 . / niina Christ i. 
 
 Of perfect light, and bade me see 
 What there was kept in store for me. 
 She passed away : I woke. Between 
 The oriel window's oaken bars, 
 The moon looked in with calm, clear light, 
 And lit the spot where they had been ; 
 And lying sleepless through the night, 
 I wondered what it all might mean.
 
 Part the First. 23 
 
 11. 
 
 I cannot forget that dream, 
 Why did my mother and sister come, and from 
 
 where ? 
 
 Can it be that there, 
 Wherever they are, they can see 
 What is happening to me ? 
 Howe'er it is so it would seem. 
 But then, fool that I am, it is matter for 
 
 laughter, 
 How can they know who are dead when there is 
 
 no hereafter. 
 
 V
 
 24 Anima Christi. 
 
 ' 
 
 VI. i. 
 
 Tis not a pleasant thing to live all alone 
 With only a dog for one's mate, 
 It turns a man to a sort of thinking stone, 
 And makes him dull in his mood, 
 And apt to think and to brood 
 Over the special sorrows which are his own. 
 I would that to be such a man it had not been 
 my fate.
 
 Part the First. 25 
 
 n. 
 
 I live all alone in the still old castle here, 
 With lands about me pleasant to see, 
 And yet not pleasant to me, 
 Who have nothing whatever upon the earth 
 To please me, and who from very birth 
 Have been accustomed to mock and sneer 
 At all creation and aught of worth. 
 
 in. 
 
 Why don't I live as my father before me did ? 
 Shoot, and hunt, and gamble, and take a wife, 
 And drink at night, and do, as brute instincts 
 
 bid, 
 And break my neck at last and get out of life
 
 26 Anima L'/tristi. 
 
 In a hurry. Nay, rather than be such a one 
 I would follow my mother's plan, and be a saint, 
 Go thrice a-day to church, and fast in Lent, 
 And pray till my back were bent, 
 And live like the poor mad fools that used to run 
 Over hot plough-shares without complaint.
 
 Part the First. 27 
 
 VII. 
 
 Yet rather than be as either, for each ran on to 
 
 extremes, 
 I would be as the little sister who died when she 
 
 was ten, 
 Who comes to me so often in my troubled 
 
 midnight dreams, 
 And makes me long to have her to live with me 
 
 here again.
 
 28 Aniina Christ i. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 I have no cause to be sad, 
 
 I have all that can please the heart, 
 
 Horses and hounds and money and land, 
 
 And all that is good to see, 
 
 And yet I am never glad, 
 
 But feel as though the brand 
 
 Of despair were stamped on the part 
 
 Where I fancy my brain to be.
 
 Part the First. 29 
 
 
 . 
 IX. i. 
 
 I have just been down to the village in the dusk 
 
 of the dying day, 
 And heard a labourer talking of me at his 
 
 cottage door, 
 And without a thought of mischief I listened 
 
 to what he might say, 
 Hearing no good of myself, as a fool could have 
 
 told me before.
 
 30 Anima Christi. 
 
 11. 
 " I be puzzled with Squoire, I be ; he be naught 
 
 of a man, sure-ly ; 
 Don't believe in a God or a Heaven, nor even 
 
 a Hell ! 
 And says there 'baint no more o' you arter you 
 
 die, 
 But he aint convinced me it's right, and I don't 
 
 think he's convinced hissel. 
 
 iii. 
 " For he allus looks moody, does Squoire, 
 
 a-poking and podging about, 
 And reading big books all day, and watching 
 
 the stars o' nights ; 
 With his face an' hands as smooth and white 
 
 as a new-washed clout, 
 And his eyes as burning and bright as the 
 
 Parson's altar lights.
 
 Part the First. 31 
 
 IV. 
 
 "' Parson and Squoire don't mix, as it isn't likely 
 
 they should 
 When one on 'em says there's a God, and the 
 
 other 'un says there baint. 
 An' it allus comes out in th' nursin' what's been 
 
 grafted i' th' blood, 
 And we all on us knows that old Squoire were 
 
 not by no means a saint ! 
 
 v. 
 " I don't 'old noways wi' Parson, wi' his dresses 
 
 and candles and smells, 
 Tho' I weant say he doesn't do good, for he's 
 
 powerful kind to the poor. 
 But I doont agree with his sarvice, and his 
 
 singin' that's like dogs' yells, 
 An' me and my missus is members at the 
 
 Methodis' Chapel next door.
 
 32 A ni ma Christi. 
 
 vi. 
 " And Pogson he preached last night 'bout 'ternal 
 
 life and death, 
 An' he spoke of the fearful torments that summun 
 
 would undergo 
 As didn't believe in a God ; and Sister Snigsby, 
 
 she saith 
 That Pogson meant the Squoire, as she 'appened 
 
 pertikler to know ! "
 
 Part the First. 33 
 
 X. 
 
 Nine years ago to-day 
 
 I saw them lay her body in the earth 
 
 My little sister, who from birth 
 
 Was ever with me in work or play. 
 
 Nine years ago, nine years to-day. 
 
 How fair she looked, her face did seem 
 
 As though she lay but in a dream, 
 
 Yet she was dead and gone. Gone where ? 
 D
 
 34 Anima Christi. 
 
 Can it be true that something is there 
 
 In the hereafter whereof she 
 
 Has solved the eternal mystery, 
 
 And that a halo of heavenly grace 
 
 Circles around her golden head ? 
 
 I do not like to think her dead 
 
 For ever, for her calm still face 
 
 Wore a bright smile which seemed to say 
 
 That life was not all taken away, 
 
 That she was not of all bereft, 
 
 But that an inner life was left 
 
 And gone to some more perfect day.
 
 Part the First. 35 
 
 XI. 
 
 I am half in doubt of my creed. 
 Life is worth living indeed, 
 If it but the prelude is 
 To some state of rest and bliss, 
 But if there is nothing to come after death, 
 If there be no other life than this, 
 I begin to think it were best to have done with 
 breath.
 
 36 Anima Cliristi. 
 
 XII. 
 
 I know not where I came across this doubt 
 That haunts me, mocking at my Godless faith, 
 And whispering that my creed is but a wraith 
 Of miserable phantoms, devil-sown, 
 Breeding, sad thought and endless misery, 
 And likening it to one prolonged groan. 
 But where or whatever it be 
 I will somehow fathom it out.
 
 Part the First. 37 
 
 XIII. i. 
 
 I am more and more opprest 
 
 With doubts and wonders and fears, 
 
 And I went last night to a chest 
 
 Which I have not opened for years, 
 
 And, not without some tears, 
 
 Took from its dust-covered rest 
 
 A little Testament bound in red, 
 
 Which belonged to my sister who is dead.
 
 38 Anima Christi. 
 
 And all through the night in the gloom 
 
 Of what was once her room, 
 
 I sat with a single light, and read 
 
 Of the Life of Him Who is called the Church's 
 
 Head, 
 And of His Death and Doom. 
 
 ii. 
 
 And, believing nothing, I still could see 
 Something within this history 
 That looked like Truth even unto me ; 
 Till I began to wonder and wonder 
 However so strange a mystery 
 As a God who was One, and One in Three, 
 And who was always and ever asunder, 
 And yet One Person, could anyway be.
 
 Part tlie First. 39 
 
 XIV. 
 
 I am thoroughly wretched and sad. 
 
 Is the creed I have clung to wrong ? 
 
 Is there a God, is there another world ? 
 
 Is there a Heaven ? Is there a Hell, 
 
 Where the damned will be suddenly hurled 
 
 To live in fire for long 
 
 Years of fierce torment ? Ah, well, 
 
 If I do not somehow these doubts dispel 
 
 I shall go mad !
 
 4O Anima Christi. 
 
 XV. i. 
 
 Ah, tell me, some one, tell me if it all be a sham 
 
 and a lie, 
 This thing that is borne upon me by some 
 
 invisible power, 
 Which steals on my heart and my brain when 
 
 no other being is nigh, 
 Watching for ever by me and whispering, 'every 
 
 hour,
 
 Part the First. 41 
 
 11. 
 With cruel insidious tongue, strange fancies 
 
 which make me afraid, 
 Fancies that tell me my life has been nothing 
 
 but sorrow and sin, 
 Spent in the dark, dread presence of a devil 
 
 that casts a deep shade 
 Over the life of all to whom he enters in. 
 
 iii. 
 I am in shadow enough, no doubt, but where is 
 
 the light ? 
 Where is the star of hope ? Where is the sun 
 
 for my day ? 
 Where is the one that shall guide me out of 
 
 this awful night 
 Where I roam with never a being to whom I 
 
 can look or pray ?
 
 42 Aniina Christi. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Is there nothing in life to live for, nothing to do 
 
 or to be ? 
 Must I always be steeped in these fancies, 
 
 always tormented with fear ? 
 Is there none in this vast world to come and be 
 
 with me, 
 Who would bear with my sin and my sorrow, 
 
 and hold me a little dear ?
 
 Part the First. 43 
 
 XVI. 
 
 O lost in the black abysses of this damned dark 
 
 despair, 
 Where shall my heart find rest, tell me, O tell 
 
 me, where ?
 
 PART THE SECOND.
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 I. i. 
 
 I have found my rest. 
 
 The shapeless phantoms of my fevered brain 
 Are gone, are past, are vanished into night. 
 O heart, rejoice ; they will not come again ! 
 The future lies before thee, clear and white, 
 The future, filled with happy, happy light, 
 The future, a bright island of the blest.
 
 48 Anima Christi. 
 
 11. 
 
 I have found my rest. 
 
 The doubts that dwelt within my mind of yore 
 Are fled far off to some black gulf of hell. 
 
 mind, rejoice ; they will not haunt thee more ! 
 The future lies before thee, promising well, 
 Like some long stream whose course no man 
 
 can tell. 
 But which looks fair to him that takes the quest 
 
 iii. 
 
 1 have found my rest. 
 
 The night is gone, the clouds are passed away, 
 And there is risen above my head the star 
 Of Love, dear Love, who took me from the fray 
 To battle for him in his own sweet war 
 Of whispered words and glances that words are, 
 Wise Love, who knows that Love for man is 
 best.
 
 Part the Second. 49 
 
 iv. 
 
 I have found my rest. 
 
 The arms of Love are round me evermore, 
 The voice of Love is in my ear alway. 
 
 golden sun, that from the eastern shore 
 Castest a path of light across the bay, 
 Rise higher, higher ! Is not this the day 
 When I shall take my love unto my breast ? 
 
 v. 
 
 1 have found my rest. 
 
 O sun-lit morning, look upon her now ! 
 O breath of flower and foliage steal to her ! 
 O sunlight, touch the blossoms on her brow, 
 O Love, be with her wheresoe'er she stir ! 
 For she is all thine own, thy minister, 
 Whom thou with thine own loveliness hast 
 blest. 
 
 E
 
 5O Anima Christi. 
 
 VI. 
 
 I have found my rest. 
 O bridal day, be glad, be fair, be bright ! 
 O time, fly on with love's untrammelled feet 
 Through happy day to happier, happier night, 
 And bring me to my own, my love, my sweet, 
 That all our being in one long kiss may meet, 
 And I may hear her maiden love confest.
 
 Part the Second, 5 1 
 
 II. i. 
 
 As one that wanders cheerless and forlorn 
 Through darkened paths ere yet the sun be 
 
 risen : 
 
 As one who lies within some loathsome prison 
 Watching with hungry eyes for signs of morn : 
 Even as either sees at length the dawn 
 And cries aloud, clapping his hands in glee, 
 So did I look for, so do I look on thee.
 
 52 Aniina Christi. 
 
 ii. 
 
 As one that drifts across a harbour bar, 
 Going out unhelmed beneath the hurrying 
 
 breeze : 
 
 As one who wanders amid unknown seas 
 Uncompassed, where all manners of peril are : 
 Even as either sees at last a star 
 Shine from the heavens with friendly brilliancy, 
 So did I look for, so do 1 look on thee.
 
 Part the Second. 53 
 
 III. i. 
 
 O best of All, 
 
 O mighty influence that canst never die, 
 
 O strange sweet passion, as the summer sky 
 
 Cloudless and pure ! Whatever men thee call 
 
 Still art thou, Love, the same. 
 
 What though we know not thee, nor even thy 
 
 name, 
 We feel thy might, thy mystery, and we
 
 Anima Christi. 
 
 Turn from ourselves to thee, 
 
 O Love, the power that shalt for ever be ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 We know not what thou art : 
 And yet we know that thou art Lord and King 
 Of all that dwells within the human heart. 
 O pleasant time, O gladness of the spring, 
 When thou, O Love, with quick, invisible wing, 
 Lit on my brow and said to care, Depart, 
 And be at peace : and thou, rest from the smart 
 Of loveliness ; henceforward thou art mine, 
 Mine ever, mine alone. 
 
 O Love Divine, 
 
 O springtime, O sweet madness of the earth, 
 To wake to love is as a new, bright birth ! 
 Is this the world that once I thought so dark ?
 
 Part the Second. 55 
 
 Is this the sky which once I found so drear ? 
 Are these the woods I cared not for ? But hark, 
 Bells, from the village belfry old and grey, 
 Fling happy sound across the wooded park, 
 Startling the deer that wander there away, 
 Waking the echoes of the ruins here, 
 And telling me it is my marriage day. 
 White day of all the whitest days of spring ! 
 O happy bells, ring on, for ever ring, 
 It is my marriage day !
 
 56 Ant ma Christi. 
 
 IV. 
 
 White day of all the whitest days of spring, 
 
 Best day of all that I have looked upon, 
 
 Why should I wish that thou from me wert 
 
 gone, 
 
 But that the night is nigh ? Ah, day, take wing, 
 And eve, draw near, and bring the stars with 
 
 thee 
 From watching o'er the ocean's murmuring,
 
 Part the Second. 57 
 
 And bid them shine upon my bride and me. 
 Bid them watch o'er us whom Love hath 
 
 ordained 
 
 To Love's own service. Dost thou linger, Day ? 
 Nay, linger not, we would not have thee stay, 
 Fly thou and leave us to our own delight : 
 Love, being blind, hath never need of light : 
 Go now, but come when the moon's beams have 
 
 waned, 
 
 Come then, attended by the sweet spring dawn 
 And call us back from Love's first ecstasy 
 Into the blushing presence of the morn ; 
 But now, O Day, go by, and let us be !
 
 58 Anima Christ:. 
 
 V. 
 
 Here is a song which I have made for you, 
 
 Where the still sunlit garden reposes, 
 
 Shut in from the rest of the land 
 By woods and by streams and by closes, 
 Which stretch to the wave-washed strand 
 Of shingle and rock and brown-sand, 
 In front of the white-breasted sea, 
 There are thousands and thousands of roses, 
 But never a rose like Thee !
 
 Part the Second. 59 
 
 I have read in some old eastern story, 
 
 Some legend of long, long ago, 
 Of a flower that was clothed with all glory, 
 A flower that had petals like snow : 
 And the flower of the legend I know 
 
 Was fair as a fair flower can be ; 
 But no flower of legend or story 
 Is like unto Thee !
 
 6o Anima Christi. 
 
 VI. i. 
 
 A light on the cliffs by the sea ? 
 
 Nay, it is only a star that peeps over the hill, 
 
 A star that came out from the heavens of its 
 
 own sweet will, 
 And is wandering slowly across the deserted 
 
 shore 
 
 To gaze for awhile on thee, 
 And to see itself eclipsed and its brightness 
 
 made poor 
 By the light of the eyes which are brighter than 
 
 stars to me.
 
 Part the Second. 61 
 
 ii. 
 
 That are brighter than stars to me ! 
 There is no light like the light of the eyes that 
 
 I love ; 
 Not all the stars that are there in the heaven 
 
 above, 
 Not all the myriad lights that glimmer and 
 
 glance on the sea, 
 Are bright as the eyes which will smile upon 
 
 mine alway ; 
 
 Not even the cloudless skies of a sunny day 
 Are bright as the dear blue eyes which shall be 
 My stars for ever and aye. 
 
 iii. 
 
 My stars for ever and aye. 
 Love that is mighty and true hath said they 
 
 shall be, 
 Love that is Lord over all hath made his decree,
 
 62 Anima Christi. 
 
 And bade me to serve in his courts, not by year, 
 
 nor by day, 
 
 But for ever and ever, and I will obey his behest. 
 Love, that is Lord over all, does he not know 
 
 best 
 
 What is best for us all ? So for ever and ever 
 I will love thee and thou shalt love me, and we 
 
 two shall part never !
 
 Part the Second. 63 
 
 VII. i. 
 
 What if the world should not go on for ever, 
 What though there be no other life than this, 
 What if the grave be our sole end and aim ? 
 Even then our life of love will be the same. 
 That shall not spoil our three-days-wedded bliss. 
 Ah, little one, why will you thus endeavour 
 To show me that I am indeed to blame 
 In daring to deny your God, why wonder
 
 Anima Christ i. 
 
 That I believe in nothing, and why ponder, 
 O sweetest preacher, with those downcast eyes, 
 On the stern fact that I, who am so wise 
 In your opinion, should refuse to see 
 That there is aught amiss or wrong in me, 
 Because I do not choose the creed to say, 
 Because I will not kneel down twice a day 
 As you in your sweet innocent whiteness do ? 
 Well, never mind. See, I will pray to you, 
 And you shall grant me everything I ask, 
 And bid me do whate'er you wish ; the task 
 Will be sweet Love's, and He is now my God. 
 Am I not ready to obey each nod, 
 Each rule of His ? He is the God for me, 
 You his High-Priest ! 
 
 ii. 
 You would not have me be
 
 Part the Second. 65 
 
 Like the old parson in our church at home ? 
 Why, Pogson, at the chapel, says that he, 
 With his fine dress and endless mummery, 
 Is half, or more than half, a child of Rome ! 
 Let's hope she's a good mother, and that she 
 Will own this child that's half hers, and half 
 
 whose ? 
 
 What do you say ? You would not like to lose 
 The dear old father ? Well, for aught I care, 
 The reverend sir can stop for ever there ; 
 And you can go and pray with him, you know, 
 As many times as e'er you care to go, 
 And see what Pogson calls his mummery 
 All Sunday through, and I will wait outside 
 Till Holy Church has finished with my bride, 
 And she can come and give an hour to me, 
 Who love her more for all this innocence, 
 This pretty care, this sanctity intense, 
 
 F
 
 66 Anima Christi. 
 
 And would not have her that which I must be. 
 
 No, darling, keep your faith. What do you say ? 
 
 That you will never cease to watch and pray 
 
 For me as well, that I may come to see 
 
 How good God is ? My sweet one, watch away ; 
 
 If He is half as good as you, why then 
 
 He is ten thousand times too good for men. 
 
 I should not say such things ? Ah, but you 
 
 know, 
 I think you perfect, and I shall say so !
 
 Part the Second. 67 
 
 VIIL i. 
 
 Ah, let me never wake 
 
 If this be but a dream, 
 
 If this sweet hand which in my own I take 
 
 Be not what it seem, 
 
 If the clear lovelit gleam 
 
 Of those dear eyes be but a fancy, brought 
 
 From out a fevered brain, 
 
 From out a mind o'erwrought, 
 
 Let me not wake, let me not live again !
 
 68 Anima Christi. 
 
 li. 
 
 Let me sleep on for aye. 
 
 Yes, let me dream that I have once been loved, 
 Have known for once a perfect, cloudless day 
 In the dark dulness of this life, and moved 
 Once through bright paths o'er which no shadow 
 
 lay. 
 
 If this be but a sleep, 
 O let me sleep for ever and for ever ! 
 O let me dream that once mine eyes did weep 
 Warm tears of love and gladness, let me know, 
 If but in sleep, of love the passionate flow 
 And sudden joy. O, if this should be so, 
 Let me wake never !
 
 Part the Second. 69 
 
 IX. 
 
 Yes, and indeed this Love of mine shall be 
 A very God, a very Lord to me. 
 O Thou unknown and fabled Deity, 
 Whom some, by superstitious fear made blind, 
 Profess to find in every breath of wind, 
 In every blade of grass, in every flower, 
 If Thou indeed dost live, if there is Thee 
 In aught about me, show it me this hour ! 
 Show me, Thou God, if God Thou art, Thy 
 power.
 
 7<D Anima Christi. 
 
 See how I mock Thee ! Nay, but Thou art not. 
 See how I scorn Thee ! Let it not be forgot 
 God ? O pale myth, Thou art not, shalt not be : 
 Keep Thine own place, Man hath no need of 
 
 Thee, 
 No need, no need, O fabled One ! 
 
 But see, 
 
 For I would dare Thee aught whom I not know, 
 If thou art God, prove it that Thou art so. 
 Here, stay at once, show me Thy hand, God, 
 
 show. 
 Need'st Thou some means ? Then, if a God 
 
 Thou be, 
 Snatch from my life what is most dear to me !
 
 Part the Second, 71 
 
 I know not if I wake or if I sleep, 
 But if I sleep, I dream. O let me wake ! 
 Begone ye damned shapes, begone, I say, 
 God, if Thou be a God, cast them away ! 
 See, how they drag me downwards to the deep ; 
 See, how they mock my agony and creep 
 Into my brain and heart and life, and make 
 All things another Hell. O let me die. 
 Save me, O save me !
 
 72 Anitna Christi. 
 
 There is some one by. 
 
 What, is it night, and do I dream ? Have I 
 Been sleeping long or am I ill ? And why 
 Do you all speak in whispers ? Who is this ? 
 And where is 
 
 O like a flash of light I know, 
 I know it all, 'tis burnt upon my brain, 
 Tis stamped upon my heart and in my life. 
 O let me die ! She can not come again, 
 Did I not see her dead ? 
 
 O the black woe ! 
 
 Five days, but five short days of spring my wife, 
 And gone. 
 
 See, she is there, is there. 
 Ah, darling, take me to thee ! What, you too, 
 My sister, with your long, bright, golden hair
 
 Part the Second. 73 
 
 Radiant in stars both fair as when I knew 
 You both and kissed you. Let me kiss you now, 
 Sister and wife. 
 
 Nay, see, upon my brow 
 Sits a black devil ; touch me not, but flee ! 
 Ah God, I pray Thee, take my life from me !
 
 74 Anima Christi. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Ah God, from off my brain 
 Take this black curse, this fierce undying pain, 
 Take it away ! I own Thee, Thou art God ! 
 God, by the might of Thy Almighty Power, 
 God, by the weight of Thy chastising rod, 
 God, by the prayers that seek Thee every hour, 
 Why hast Thou taken all I loved from me ? 
 God, Thou art God, and Thou hast won. Yet 
 
 see, 
 
 Thou Being of Power and Pride and Cruelty, 
 I own Thy sway, but I will serve Thee never. 
 God, wheresoe'er Thou art, whate'er Thou be, 
 I will curse Thee for ever and for ever !
 
 Part the Second. 75 
 
 XII. i. 
 
 I am alone ; alone in a world that is but a 
 
 fleeting show, 
 A world which has proved so vile that I should 
 
 not in it linger 
 If I had but the pluck of a man. God ! it were 
 
 easy to go ! 
 Here is the very thing to do it with. The pull 
 
 of a finger
 
 76 Anima Christi. 
 
 ii. 
 Would send this bit of lead through my brain 
 
 with a smash and a crash. 
 How easy it were to do it and get from the 
 
 light ! 
 Here goes. But when did I ever do anything 
 
 rash ? 
 I will think it over once more, and besides that 
 
 vision last night. 
 
 iii. 
 Vision of wife and mother and sister robed in 
 
 white, 
 Star-crowned and carrying palms and smiling 
 
 all on me, 
 And a whisper which seemed to say " In the 
 
 land of endless light, 
 We are waiting, O thou whom we love, waiting 
 
 to welcome thee ! "
 
 Part the Second. 77 
 
 iv. 
 In the land of endless light ? Where is it ? 
 
 Thou God whom I hate, 
 Thou Despot that snatched away my five-days' 
 
 bride from me, 
 Dost Thou, in Thy mighty mind, which Thy 
 
 followers teach is great, 
 Know where in space or creation any such land 
 
 may be ?
 
 78 Anima Christ i. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 I will go down to the church and stand by her 
 
 grave awhile. 
 'Tis eighteen months to-day since she gave me 
 
 her last sweet smile 
 And went to swift death ! Why went she ? 
 
 Ah wife, with the soul so white, 
 I would give what would I not give to be 
 
 where thou art to-night !
 
 Part the Second. 79 
 
 XIV. i. 
 
 O'er the soft brown autumn meadows steals the 
 
 last light of the sun, 
 Falling softly, shortening quickly, telling me that 
 
 day is done, 
 Telling me that day is over, gone another day 
 
 from me, 
 O my darling, let it perish if it brings me nearer 
 
 thee!
 
 8o Anima Christi. 
 
 ii. 
 Roses blossom o'er thy bosom, O my rose I see 
 
 not now, 
 Lilies white are lying o'er thee, not so white as 
 
 - was thy brow, 
 Flowers have sprung to life above thee where 
 
 thou liest still and dead, 
 
 With the cross which thou so lovedst standing 
 silent at thy head. 
 
 iii. 
 O my wife, my love, my lost one, would that 
 
 thou wert here with me ! 
 Would that I might draw thee to me with the 
 
 hand I gave to thee, 
 Would that thou couldst teach me patience, 
 
 would that thou mightst take my hand 
 In thine own, and lead me onward to some far 
 
 off mystic land
 
 Part the Second. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Where is never sin or sorrow, where is neither 
 
 fear nor shame, 
 Where no crowd of mortals hurries after un- 
 
 enduring fame, 
 Where the light is clear and cloudless as the 
 
 twilight heaven above, 
 Where is nought of hate or sadness, where is 
 
 rest and peace and love. 
 
 v. 
 I have sinned, none knows it better, and my 
 
 heart would fain have rest. 
 O that I could clasp thee to me, hide my sorrows 
 
 in thy breast, 
 Feel thy lips upon my forehead, and thy hand 
 
 within my own, 
 And thy heart pressed close to my heart ere it 
 
 harden into stone ! 
 G
 
 82 Aniina Christi. 
 
 vi. 
 Vain regrets! for thou hast left me. Shall I 
 
 ever see thee more ? 
 Wilt thou meet me when my foot falls on that 
 
 distant unknown shore 
 Which is lying undiscovered, which my feet have 
 
 never trod, 
 Where thy spirit is for ever ? But I have no 
 
 faith in God. 
 
 vii. 
 I am proud and I would scorn Him, I would 
 
 curse Him, I would be 
 Cursed and outcast for all ages if it had not 
 
 been for thee ; 
 But thou lovedst Him, and if He were worthy 
 
 of such priceless love as thine 
 I would love Him, and would fear Him, and 
 
 would hail Him all-divine.
 
 Part the Second. 83 
 
 viii. 
 
 Ah, my lost one, if thou hearest, keep me with 
 thy strongest prayer ! 
 
 Fool, I know not what I ask for, none hath ever 
 listened there. 
 
 Had a wish of man e'er echoed in those space- 
 less halls on high, 
 
 Christ, the One Propitiation, would have had no 
 need to die. 
 
 ix. 
 
 No, there is no use in praying, but I would that 
 
 thou could'st hear, 
 That thy voice could speak in whispers, that thy 
 
 presence could be near. 
 There is left in earth no comfort, there remains 
 
 no peace for me, 
 Who have known a very heaven in the love that 
 
 was of thee.
 
 84 Anima Christt. 
 
 x. 
 
 Sweet blue eyes that looked ail-sweetly in sweet 
 
 love upon my own, 
 Curl-tossed head and lips like roses these are 
 
 from me far-off flown. 
 Yonder sun will rise to-morrow, though to-night 
 
 he leaves the sky. 
 Would there were some resurrection for the 
 
 blessed ones that die ! 
 
 xi. 
 
 O but I am wretched truly, and my mind with 
 
 vague unrest 
 Tears my heart in myriad pieces ; would that I 
 
 might find some rest ! 
 Now that thou art taken from me what have I 
 
 to do with life ? 
 Would to God that I were buried in this grave 
 
 with thee, my wife !
 
 Part the Second. 85 
 
 xii. 
 
 O that thou couldst once more clasp me to thy 
 
 bosom warm and white, 
 Even as thine arms did clasp me at our first 
 
 sweet bridal night, 
 Even as thou then didst press me closely to thy 
 
 woman's breast, 
 Ah, no cry should then escape me as escapes me 
 
 now for Rest !
 
 PART THE THIRD.
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 I. i. 
 
 I know Thee now ! Ah, let me stay for ever 
 Here by Thy side, O cast me not away ! 
 
 Here let me stay, here let me make endeavour 
 To kiss Thy feet, and serve Thee day by day. 
 
 ii. 
 
 I have known sin. Who is there of the living 
 That e'er hath plunged to those black gulfs 
 of Hell
 
 9O Anima Chris ti. 
 
 From which Thy hand hath drawn me, All- 
 Forgiving ? 
 Nay, there is none that can fall as I fell. 
 
 iii. 
 And now I know Thee. Like some wondrous 
 
 vision 
 Thou, Soul of Christ, hast crept into my 
 
 heart 
 
 Wilt Thou not stay and save me from perdition ? 
 Ah, most sweet Lord, say Thou wilt not 
 depart ! 
 
 iv. 
 Here is my heart ; it is no house of glory, 
 
 It hath no roof upreared to touch the sky, 
 Nor window blazing with a dead saint's story, 
 
 Nor vaulted dome, nor altar rising high,
 
 Part the Third. 91 
 
 v. 
 
 Nor hath it aught of brightness in its keeping : 
 It is but flesh, and it is dark with sin, 
 
 And myriad faults within its gloom are sleeping ; 
 But, O Lord Christ, wilt Thou not enter in ? 
 
 vi. 
 Enter, and I will bless Thy name for ever ! 
 
 I know Thee now, I, who did once blaspheme 
 Thy Holy Name and swore to serve Thee never, 
 
 Have started up affrighted from my dream, 
 
 vii. 
 
 To find Thee watching by my sore affliction, 
 Was that the way by which Thou brought'st 
 
 me home ? 
 
 Ah, blessed Lord, mine is most true conviction, 
 Take Thou my hand, nor let me further roam.
 
 92 Anima Christi. 
 
 Vlll. 
 
 how I love Thee ! I, for ever blessed, 
 Will cling to Thee and at Thy altar kneel ; 
 
 But when wilt Thou have half thy love confessed 
 
 Soul of Christ, that meltest hearts of steel ? 
 
 ix. 
 
 1 have seen all that earth can show of sorrow, 
 
 1 have known all that man can know of love, 
 Kissed lips that promised kisses for to-morrow, 
 
 Looked into eyes which shone like stars 
 above, 
 
 x. 
 
 Clasped hands which trembled with the heart's 
 
 emotion, 
 
 Smiled back on smiles which tender thoughts 
 confest,
 
 Part the Third. 93 
 
 Whispered warm words which told of true 
 
 devotion, 
 
 Stood tranced from life and strained to 
 woman's breast : 
 
 xi. 
 
 I have known All ; and O, how vastly higher, 
 How much more wondrous is Thy love, O 
 
 Christ, 
 For those whom Thou hast snatched from out 
 
 the fire, 
 For those for whom Thyself was sacrificed ! 
 
 xii. 
 There is no love of father or of mother, 
 
 There is no love of maiden or of wife, 
 There is no love of sister or of brother, 
 
 There is no love that lives in any life,
 
 94 Anima Chris ti. 
 
 xiii. 
 Such as the love wherewith, O Thou All-Saving, 
 
 Thou hast loved me who am not fit to live. 
 Didst Thou not die, and, all things calmly 
 
 braving, 
 Come unto me, my black sins to forgive ? 
 
 xiv. 
 
 how Thou lov'st me ! Never earthly passion 
 Was half so strong as is this love of Thine ! 
 
 Was ever love that loved in this sweet fashion, 
 Was ever heart that woke such love in mine ? 
 
 xv. 
 
 1 will stay here, O Love and Lord, for ever, 
 Kissing Thy feet and serving Thee alway ; 
 
 I will be Thine, and wander from Thee never, 
 Until the shadows pass from me away.
 
 Part the Third. 95 
 
 II. i. 
 
 Holy Saint Francis of the face benign ! 
 
 Here in thy cloister, whence the eye looks 
 
 down 
 
 O'er vine-clad fields upon the little town 
 Sleeping in sunlight that seems half-divine, 
 Ten years have passed above this head of mine, 
 Ten years, sweet years, empty of sigh or 
 
 frown. 
 Yea, 'tis ten years, how quickly are they 
 
 flown ! 
 
 Sweet saint, thou knovvest why : those eyes of 
 thine
 
 96 Anima Christi. 
 
 That look on me so calmly from thy place 
 In highest Heaven, have seen my Lord and 
 Love. 
 
 Yea, thou, O Holy Saint, hast seen His Face, 
 Thou lookest on It now, and so dost prove 
 
 How glorious and how perfect is the grace 
 Of Him who died on earth and lives above ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Ten years since all that was of earth went by ! 
 O dear Lord Christ, whom I have served ten 
 
 years, 
 
 Whose bleeding feet are watered with my tears, 
 All those ten years Thy presence hath been nigh, 
 And ah, with Thee who for my sins didst die, 
 To walk through Hell itself no craven fears 
 Would my soul have. Thy Hand, once 
 
 wounded, cheers 
 All them that but for Thee in grief would sigh.
 
 Part the Third. 97 
 
 Sweet Love, blest Lord, ah, bring me nearer 
 
 Thee, 
 
 O let me clasp Thy knees, O let me gaze 
 Upon those eyes that look so pityingly 
 
 On the dim souls which lie in this world's 
 
 maze. 
 
 O let me reach Thee that my lips may be 
 Endlessly moving in Thy name and praise ! 
 
 iii. 
 
 O glad spring morning that bursts forth even now 
 Across this land, this sun-kissed Italy, 
 How fair art thou, how gracious thou to see, 
 
 As the red sun, rising behind the brow 
 
 Of the white Appenines makes night sink low, 
 Away in the far west. Yea, unto me, 
 O happy morn, thou, in thy majesty 
 
 Of springtime, when all flowers and blossoms 
 
 blow, 
 H
 
 98 Anima Christi. 
 
 Art a fair emblem of another day 
 
 Which cometh, white with joy and wondrous 
 
 bright, 
 Unto my soul. Ah, it is on the way, 
 
 Hasten then, day, and reign once more, 
 
 O night, 
 
 And day speed on, and night speed, while I pray, 
 O come, Lord Christ, and fill my soul with 
 light !
 
 Part the Third. 99 
 
 III. 
 
 See here, in the Scriptorium, old and grey, 
 A missal that was not made yesterday, 
 Nor twenty years since, but has laid here long, 
 As in a poet's fancy hides a song. 
 How old it is ! What thick rough edges too : 
 Here's good Saint Francis in a gown of blue, 
 And the Blest Virgin with the Holy Child, 
 See his round eyes and little face so mild,
 
 IOO Aniinn Clinsti. 
 
 And Herod with his robe and crown awry, 
 The grave Magicians standing calmly by, 
 And Saint Veronica beside the cross, 
 And good Saint John weeping his Master's loss, 
 And Stephen, looking upward to the skies, 
 With clasped hands and supplicating eyes ; 
 And here the children round our Saviour's 
 
 knees, 
 
 Would that we, brother, were as pure as these ! 
 Ah well, but let us read a little, too, 
 And see what he, that made this missal, knew. 
 See, here is written on the opening leaf 
 
 "Life is not long, sunshine and storm are brief; 
 Ye that here read, as ye to Heaven would go, 
 Pray for the soul of Fra Angelico." 
 Read, brother, then ; the page is open there.
 
 Part the T/iini. 101 
 
 " Long years ago, how long no man can tell, 
 An angel from on high went down to Hell, 
 And asked of one that burnt there why he fell. 
 
 " To whom the burning one in accents low, 
 Weeping hot tears the while he spake, said 'Lo 
 Because quick pride within my heart did glow
 
 IO2 A mm a Cliristi. 
 
 "'So fearfully that I was lifted high 
 
 In my own mind and feared no power, I, 
 
 Nor ever thought that God was standing by. 
 
 '"Nor owned him Lord, but day by day waxed 
 
 great 
 
 In mine own strength and made me desolate, 
 And in my heart kept stern and awful state. 
 
 "'And yet fell not because of this, for He 
 Bears long and well sin 'gainst His Majesty, 
 And had forgiven at one slight word from me, 
 
 '"But because I, in malice, once did lay 
 Dark snares to make a young heart fall away 
 Whose soul was white as are the buds in Ma}-,
 
 Part the Third. 103 
 
 "'And, seeing this, on me God's anger burst, 
 ' Who sins, said He, shall surely be accurst, 
 But he that tempts is counted e'er the worst' 
 
 " Then wept he once again and turned to flee 
 
 Back to his wilds of hopeless misery 
 
 O thou that readest, take this unto thee, 
 
 "And learn that any sin is washed away 
 Sooner than his that doth a soul betray, 
 Because that soul is turned from its white 
 way, 
 
 " Where it had wandered quietly and well, 
 Unto the path which leadeth on to Hell, 
 Wherein the devil and his angels dwell.
 
 IO4 Anima Christi. 
 
 " O thou that readest, dost thy memory know 
 Of any sin against a soul of snow ? 
 God not forgets it if thou hast done so ! "
 
 Part the Third. 105 
 
 Here ends it then : 
 
 Christ, that dost hear all 
 
 prayer, 
 Who knowest all hearts, though they be not laid 
 
 bare, 
 
 Who seest all deeds with Thy clear-piercing eye, 
 Who most art with us when we think Thee far, 
 Who shinest on us as a guiding star, 
 Who healest sorrow and dost cast out woe, 
 Give, we beseech Thee, from Thy Throne in 
 
 Heaven, 
 
 Where Thou already him from sin hast shriven, 
 Light to the soul of Fra Angelico !
 
 io6 Anima Christi. 
 
 IV. i. 
 
 Angelus sounds across the quiet meadows : 
 Here let me kneel and intercession make, 
 
 Until around me fall the evening shadows, 
 With her who loves us for her dear Son's sake. 
 
 ii. 
 Mother of God, and Queen of highest heaven ! 
 
 Ah, Mary, hear us when we ask of thee 
 To pray for us for whom thy Son has striven, 
 
 For whom He died upon the blessed Tree.
 
 Part the Third. 107 
 
 iii. 
 And hearing, kneel in thy sweet solemn whiteness 
 
 With all true saints before the Eternal Throne, 
 Ah, pray for us, and let us feel the lightness 
 
 Of perfect peace and know our fault is gone. 
 
 iv. 
 Mary, thine eyes have looked upon Him dying, 
 
 Thine arm hath held Him as a little child, 
 Ah, bid Him look on us all-suppliant lying, 
 
 O blessed One and Virgin undefiled. 
 
 v. 
 Plead with Him, Mother of the sheep that love 
 
 Him, 
 
 Kneel to Him, Lily of celestial fields ! 
 Mary, thy love is round Him and above Him, 
 Thy hand can move the sceptre which He 
 wields.
 
 io8 Anima Christi. 
 
 VI. 
 
 O Holy Mother, sec, while night comes stealing 
 Over the hills that watch yon peaceful bay, 
 
 The bell that calls us to thy praise is pealing, 
 And we will praise for ever and for aye. 
 
 vii. 
 Hail, Mary! Hail, Queen, Mother, Saint Most 
 
 Glorious ! 
 
 Kneeling in Heaven before Thy Monarch Son, 
 Help us to come from out the fight victorious, 
 Stretch forth thy hand to greet us when 'tis 
 done !
 
 Part the Third. 109 
 
 V. i. 
 
 The tapers gleam, the incense rises slowly ; 
 Above the towers the stars burn faint and 
 
 dim, 
 
 While to Thy Name, O Saviour Christ Most 
 Holy, 
 
 Rises the solemn hymn. 
 
 ii. 
 
 Pray for the dead ! Another soul hath left us, 
 Another soul hath passed through heaven's 
 
 bright door, 
 
 He of whose aid and love Thou hast bereft us 
 Is with Thee evermore.
 
 iio Anima Christ i. 
 
 Hi. 
 
 Grant him, O God, eternal rest and sweetness ; 
 Look on the face of Christ Thy Son, and say 
 The words which give to every life complete- 
 ness, 
 
 " Thy sins are washed away." 
 
 iv. 
 Washed out, effaced, because, O One Oblation, 
 
 O Lamb of God, O Sacrifice for sin, 
 Thou, by the might of Thy all-sure Salvation, 
 Our souls from hell didst win !
 
 Part the Third. ill 
 
 VI. i. 
 
 After long years my heart hath come anear Thee, 
 Soon I shall reach Thee whom I love so well. 
 
 O Saviour Christ, what joy to see and hear Thee, 
 O Holy Lord, how sweet Thy praise to tell ! 
 
 ii. 
 Yes, death steals nigh me. Welcome, God's 
 
 own angel, 
 Welcome, blest shadow, bearing sword or 
 
 spear, 
 Thou art to me as is a sweet evangel, 
 
 For thou to Him that loves wilt bring me near.
 
 112 Anima Christ i. 
 
 iii. 
 
 Dying, you say ? Ah me, the news is glorious ; 
 Soon shall I see him who hath all my 
 
 thought ; 
 
 Yes, I shall come from out the fight victorious, 
 Ransomed by Him that my salvation bought. 
 
 iv. 
 How can I tell you what my heart is feeling ? 
 
 How can I speak of what my soul expects ? 
 Listen ! I hear the angelic anthem stealing, 
 
 Or is't some song my fancy recollects ? 
 
 v. 
 Do they sing matins in the church below us, 
 
 Or is it mass, or is it eventide ? 
 Nay, but in dying God doth often show us 
 
 What doth await us at the other side.
 
 Part the Third. 113 
 
 VI. 
 
 Visions we have of those bright homes of glory, 
 Visions of what for us is kept in store, 
 
 Visions surpassing poet's wildest story, 
 
 Visions that slip through heaven's half-opened 
 door. 
 
 vii. 
 
 O could I tell you what doth there await me, 
 O could I say what joy is there for me, 
 
 How ye would long through this still vale to 
 
 mate me, 
 How ye would burn with zeal that sight to see ! 
 
 viii. 
 Christ, Holy Christ, Sweet Lord and King in 
 
 Heaven, 
 Mary, Blest Mother of the Church below,
 
 114 .1 ni ma Christ i. 
 
 Angels and martyrs, sinners from sin shriven, 
 Virgins with souls more white than new-fall'n 
 snow, 
 
 ix. 
 Holy St. Peter, with the keys beside thee, 
 
 Waiting to ope the gate witli eager eyes, 
 Holy St. Paul, by Him that once did chide thce, 
 Aid with your prayers my passage to the 
 skies. 
 
 x. 
 
 Hail, Holy Saints, fly round Him and above 
 
 Him, 
 Kneel at His feet and kiss the wounds they 
 
 bear, 
 
 Tell Him I come who passionately love Him, 
 Ah, shall I bear it when I see Him there ?
 
 Part the Third. 115 
 
 XI. 
 
 Will it not kill me, this fierce, fond devotion ? 
 
 Will it not make me speechless where I stand ? 
 Nay, for His Love is boundless as the ocean, 
 
 And He will clasp me in His strong right hand, 
 
 xii. 
 
 And bear me onward to the Throne before Him, 
 To kneel all humbly at the feet of God. 
 
 And then but how shall I, a worm, adore Him ? 
 How shall I dare to wait His mighty nod ? 
 
 xiii. 
 How shall I dare to look on God the Father ? 
 
 How did I dare to look on God the Son ? 
 Yea, but the Son shall beg His mercy, rather 
 Than that my soul should faint when life is 
 done.
 
 n 6 Anima Christ i. 
 
 xiv. 
 Yea, He shall pray, shall plead in accents tender 
 
 His death till God the Father shrives my soul, 
 And bids me wait before Him in His splendour 
 
 While the vast ages round Him reverent roll. 
 
 xv. 
 
 Yea, Christ the Saviour, Christ the One Oblation, 
 Hath found me pardon, and my time is past : 
 
 O let me go to join that mighty nation, 
 O let me look upon His Face at last. 
 
 xvi. 
 
 Is the mass over ? Do they bring me unction ? 
 Christ, who in sacraments to us dost give
 
 Part the Third. 117 
 
 All means of grace, bless this most solemn 
 
 function, 
 Forgive my sins, and those of all that live. 
 
 xvii. 
 
 And now, dear Lord, my soul is coming to Thee, 
 Ah, by what wondrous ways Thou ledst me 
 
 here ; 
 
 I had no life, no heart, until I knew Thee, 
 Until Thy spirit and Thy hand came near. 
 
 xviii. 
 
 Dost Thou remember ? I, on her grave lying, 
 Whose love I bless Thee for from morn to 
 
 night, 
 Knew nought of earth and hoped that I was 
 
 dying, 
 Because my life held nothing that was bright,
 
 n8 Anima Christ i. 
 
 xix. 
 And cursing all beneath me and above me, 
 
 Heard a still voice as of a spirit say, 
 Christ died for thee, and He doth surely love tliee t 
 
 O wandering soul, tJtat yet shall find the way. 
 
 xx. 
 
 And Thou dost love me ! Christ, my Lord, Thy 
 
 Spirit 
 Hath brought my soul from darkness unto 
 
 light, 
 
 Not by my works, for they have little merit, 
 But because Thou hast washed my red heart 
 white. 
 
 xxi. 
 
 Yea, Thou hast died, and Thou art daily offered; 
 Thou, the New Bloodless Sacrifice, each morn
 
 Part the Third. 119 
 
 By Thy priest's hands to God the Father 
 
 proffered, 
 Cleansest the hearts of them that are forlorn. 
 
 xxii. 
 
 O that my lips could tell Thee how I love Thee ! 
 O that my mouth could kiss Thy wounded 
 side, 
 
 that my deeds Thy servant aye could prove 
 
 me, 
 O that my soul were fit to be Thy Bride ! 
 
 xxiii. 
 
 1 come, sweet Jesus. Yea, the fight is over ! 
 See, there is Death equipped with shining' 
 
 sword, 
 
 His radiant vesture o'er my head doth hover, 
 And he is come to fetch me to my Lord.
 
 I2O Anima Christi. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Brothers whom I have loved so long and 
 
 dearly, 
 Whose souls to Christ and hearts to men 
 
 are true, 
 
 Ye will say mass for me at morning early, 
 And I will pray in Heaven all day for you. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 O the blest joy, the happiness, the glory, 
 O the sweet vision and the scarce-felt fear ! 
 
 Ah, to be able to tell Christ my story, 
 Ah, to be certain that my King is near ! 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 Finished the fight and gone the strong tempta- 
 tion ; 
 The portals reached and earth far fled away :
 
 Part the Third. 121 
 
 Sure in the strength of Christ the Lord's salva- 
 tion, 
 Sure in the prospect of the endless day. 
 
 xxvii. 
 Christ ! Is it Thou ? Is this the hand they 
 
 nailed, 
 Is this the wound they made in Thy sweet 
 
 side ? 
 
 Ah, but I love Thee, and I have prevailed, 
 I have come cleansed across yon heaving tide. 
 
 xxviii. 
 Christ ! O sweet eyes, O hand so soft and tender, 
 
 O clasp so firm that bearest me above ! 
 O what bright bliss, what beauty and what 
 
 splendour, 
 O Christ my King, my Lord, my Life, my Love !
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
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