Then Eve to Joseph turns: 'My Son,' saith she,
'Most dear, most welcome, how is this to be?
Relate, if so thou mayst, what is to me
The Hope of these four thousand years - that we
May hear of Mary, and may honour thee.'
'O Mother of Mankind- the Lord is He,
Omnipotent and Great; how Good is He
Who hath His Name revealed of Charity:
Lo, from the Father's Bosom cometh He
Captive, alone to lead Captivity.
'The Lord who spake in Paradise to thee -
The Word Omniscient, the Same is He
Who for us hath reversed the dread decree:
Him have I carried in mine arms, and He
A Man now is? in all maturity.'
'And what of Mary?' softly murmurs she.
And Joseph answers: 'Mother, verily,
To be her Guardian was she given to me,
Whom I for God espoused, that she might be
God's Virgin-Mother, indefectibly.'
Saith Eve: 'But what of sin? Whence, answer me,
That such pre-eminence of Grace had she
As to conceive in Flesh profaned by me?
By birth was I immaculate: but she?
How came the Birthright back? Oh, speak to me.'
'Great Mother of the Living, it was He
Who made thee what thou wert, that thou shouldst be
A perfect Offshoot from a perfect Tree:
He closed the floodgates of the Curse when she,
Daughter of Wisdom, came our Life to be.'
Cries Eve: 'Oh, wonder. Blest of all is she
Whom God so honoured in His just Decree.
My Daughter's - yea, my very flesh shall be
The Flesh of the Redeemer. Yes, through me
Me, Mother of the Living, Life shall be.'
* * *
He that hearkeneth to me shall not be confounded:
and they that work for me shall not sin.
They that explain me shall have Life Everlasting.
- Ecclesiasticus 24:30,31
- text taken from Mary: The Perfect Woman, by Emily Mary Shapcote