XXVII.

A dream came to me while the night

Thinned off before the breath of morn,

Which filled my soul with such delight

As hers who clasps a babe new-born.

I saw — in countenance like a child —

( Three years methought were hers, no more )

That maid and mother undefiled

The Saviour of the world who bore.

A nun-like veil was o'er her thrown;

Her locks by fillet-bands made fast,

Swiftly she climbed the steps of stone;—

Into the Temple swiftly passed.

Not once she paused her breath to take;

Not once cast back a homeward look:—

As longs the hart his thirst to slake,

When noontide rages, in the brook,

So longed that child to live for God;

So pined, from earth's enthralments free,

To bathe her wholly in the flood

Of God's abysmal purity!

Anna and Joachim from far

Their eyes on that white vision raised:

And when, like caverned foam or star

Cloud-hid, she vanished, still they gazed.