Madonna, Madonnina Sat by the grey road-side, Saint Joseph her beside, And Our Lord at her breast; Oh they were fain to rest,

Thou beautiful and ivory gates That shut my tears away from me - Even, at last, such refuge yield That great, safe doors of Ebony.

Ere the horne’d owl hoot Once and twice and thrice there sh… Go among the blind brown worms News of thy great burial; When the pomp is passed away,

Oh me, Was there a time When Paradise knew Eve In this sweet guise, so placid and

Fugitive, wistful, Pausing at edge of her going, Autumn, the maiden, turns, Leans to the earth with ineffable Gesture. Ah, more than

Fate Defied As it Were tissue of silver I’ll wear, O fate, thy grey, And go mistily radiant, clad

Meet thou the event And terrible happening of Thine end: for thou art come Upon the remote, cold place Of ultimate dissolution and

‘WHY do You thus devise Evil against her?’ ‘For that She is beautiful, delicate; Therefore.’

Behold her, Running through the waves Eager to reach the land; The water laps her, Sun and wind are on her,

Dost thou Not feel them slip, How cold! how cold! the moon’s Thin wavering finger-tips, along Thy throat?

Scarlet the poppies Blue the corn-flowers, Golden the wheat. Gold for the Eternal: Blue for Our Lady:

The cold With steely clutch Grips all the land. .alack The little people in the hills Will die!

Avis, the fair, at dawn Rose lightly from her bed, Herself arrayed, Avis, the fait, the maid, In vestiment of lawn;

Seen on a night in November How frail Above the bulk Of crashing water hangs, Autumn, evanescent, wan,

If illness’ end be health regained… Will pay you, Asculapeus, when I…