At length the tempest passed: the hours went by;
The Dragon watched in vain; and secretly
Flowed on in peace the Life that was to be
The Light of all the World - since, Hidden, He
With Mary and with Joseph willed to be.
Oh, Hidden Life: for thirty years is He
To Parents subject. Unreservedly
Accepts He Human attributes that be
The portion of the creature. Gradually
As Man He is what God could never be.
Mother of Wisdom; lo, it was to thee
That Jesus bowed Himself subjectively:
Thy hand first helped His Infant Steps, and He
Clung to thy stronger fingers trustingly -
As children fear to fall, so trembled He.
His Teacher, Mother, wert thou - thou wert she
To guide His Infant Lispings. God was He:
Yet not as God learned He in all to be
Obedient - unto dying. Man was He:
And grew as Man to Youth, from Infancy.
As Man He gained experience; yet did He
Know from the world's beginning, that to be
Which now from day to day He learned from thee.
Good had His Word alone created: He
Now learns as Man what loss of Good can be.
Eve, faithless, disobedient - verily,
By ruling Adam brought delinquency
And death to life. Wherefore, most willingly
Did Jesus, through subjection unto thee,
O Faithful Virgin, change that destiny.
Subjection and Obedience: thus doth He
Our self-willed pride rebuke, who love to be
Preeminent in all things: thus did He
Precede us on our way, who, verily,
Learned how to govern through humility.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote