Thus did the Day-dawn glimmer: though they be
Heathen, the Chaste they see through chastity.
Longing for her they cease not ardently
To lift in praise their voice, and greedily
Claim as their own this Queen that is to be.
O Mother, Queen thou wert; long ages, by
Wisdom, proclaimed thine advent; the Most High
Looked on thy beauty with complacency
All through those ages dark, and blessedly
Athwart their night a ray He sent from thee.
E'en as the sun ere day-break, stealthily
Shoots up his hidden beams, as though to see
The joy of his awaking, gloamingly
The Light which shone in secret, stole to be
A clear forerunner of our Sun, in thee.
So God-forsaken seemed the world to be,
So sunk in darkness, steeped in misery,
That without rival roamed the Enemy
Seeking thy lightest footstep to descry,
O Woman, dreaded for thine enmity.
Yet sought in vain; for 'mid the panoply
Of his unholy rites, behold and see,
Eternal Wisdom ruled: yea, chose to be
Beholden and acknowledged. Thus did He
The heathen vestal teach to honour thee.
O Mother of all Ages, Light, to be
Our Light till time shall cease - these worshipped thee
Though but a gleam pierced their idolatry:
Though an uncertain glimpse they caught of thee
That glimpse was Truth, and they acknowledged thee.
Mother of Light Incarnate, far from thee
Must fly the ancient mists of Devilry -
Far from the Babe thou sucklest on thy knee:
Since, if that distant dawn broke splendidly,
What to the heathen must the daylight be?
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote