Created Nature hath been made to be
Dependent on its equability:
Perfection lies in general harmony
Of all its different parts - Stability
And Order reigning o'er Diversity.
God made our Human Nature outwardly
Fitted to circumstances, and inwardly,
Self-regulating. This can only be
Accomplished when the moral force is free,
Or is not lost in some obscurity.
Pleasure and Pain mark out most vividly
These phases of our being. We can see
How pain outweighs, by its intensity -
Whether of soul or body - constantly,
The greatest earthly-born felicity.
Oh, Life is weary: even when we be
Most certain of our aim, and consciously
Warring against the unseen Powers which be
In league with Nature fallen, and strive to be
Faithful to God and our high destiny.
O Nature, tired with striving: can it be
The self-same, modelled for felicity?
The Nature fitted for eternity,
So richly dowered by God, in Him to be
The Home of Joy and Rest eternally?
Thus sighs the Soul; and looking up to thee,
Mother of Mercy, questions painfully
The reason of this hard necessity;
The reason, wherefore this obscurity
Must hide us from our perfect entity.
O Mother, hear; thou who wert ever free
From the least stain of sin's obliquity,
Thou who our Pattern art - I follow thee -
And in each gracious Footstep that I see,
Help me mine own to place, undoubtingly.
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote