| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
| |
| 210. Flowers for the Altar |
| By Digby Mackworth Dolben (1848–1867) |
| |
I
TELL us, tell us, holy shepherds, | |
| What at Bethlehem you saw.— | |
| ‘Very God of Very God | |
| Asleep amid the straw.’ | |
| |
| Tell us, tell us, all ye faithful, | 5 |
| What this morning came to pass | |
| At the awful elevation | |
| In the Canon of the Mass.— | |
| |
| ‘Very God of Very God, | |
| By whom the worlds were made, | 10 |
| In silence and in helplessness | |
| Upon the altar laid.’ | |
| |
| Tell us, tell us, wondrous Jesu, | |
| What has drawn Thee from above | |
| To the manger and the altar.— | 15 |
| All the silence answers—Love. | |
| |
II
Through the roaring streets of London | |
| Thou art passing, hidden Lord, | |
| Uncreated, Consubstantial, | |
| In the seventh heaven adored. | 20 |
| |
| As of old the ever-Virgin | |
| Through unconscious Bethlehem | |
| Bore Thee, not in glad procession, | |
| Jewelled robe and diadem; | |
| |
| Not in pomp and not in power, | 25 |
| Onward to Nativity, | |
| Shrined but in the tabernacle | |
| Of her sweet Virginity. | |
| |
| Still Thou goest by in silence, | |
| Still the world cannot receive, | 30 |
| Still the poor and weak and weary | |
| Only, worship and believe. | |
|
|
