O instrument of God, baptizing men In vehement, lone Jordan of the wilds, Amid the rushes, when Thou wert startled by the sight Of One coming, simply bright As a Lamb, across the sand, Thou didst tremble to abide In the shallows and to dash the tide Of the current on a Head That must bow beneath the sin of men! Thou wouldst only, at command, Keep thy awful station, grown more awful then. But thou wert obedient to His word, Who was greater beyond words than thou, As thy lips averred: And, obedient, thou wert blest With the presence manifest Of the Holy Trinity-- Thou the Body of the Son Didst behold on which thy rite was done; Thou didst hear the Father’s Voice, As the firmament soft thunder heard; And thy senses, blest to hear and see, Might behold the Spirit poised, a sunlit Bird. GARDENS ENCLOSED Garden by the brook, The brook Kedron-- Olive-silvered nook, Red flowers to kneel on: There in blood and strife divine, There a Eucharist outspread, Christ gave the Father in a chalice Wine, And in His yielded Will He offered Bread. Garden on the hill, Mount Golgotha, Have you a running rill From your rocky spur? “Yea, a water from His side, Who was hanging on a Tree: Son of Man, they called Him, and He died, And is hidden in my rock with me.” GARDEN-SEED What art Thou sowing in the garden-ground, Sowing, sowing with such pain? Clouds are overhead, and all around Spring hath fallen spring-rain Of seed-growing power. Lo, where Thou bowest down, it seems a shower Hath laid the grass, as rain ran through, Engendering rain, stronger than early dew. It is Thy Agony that pierces deep Through the sod of that still place; For Thou bowest down where Thou dost weep, Bowest down Thy face; And Thou sowest seed, Drops of Thy most Holy Blood, that bleed Through brow and limbs in sweat, and stay Red on the Earth, while the tears sink away. Sower, what herb shall spring, what flower be born? Will pomegranate-apples hang, When we pass this way, some morn? Struck with spring’s own pang, _This_ our eyes will see-- Faith that shoulders great buds lustily; Hope that shoots up a hundredfold; And Love in roses wondrous to behold. UNIVERSA COHORS