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(From “Bernard of Clugny”)
(Selected Passages)
O HAPPY, holy portion, | |
| Refection for the blest: | |
| True vision of true beauty, | |
| Sweet cure of all distrest! | |
| Strive, man, to win that glory; | 5 |
| Toil, man, to gain that light; | |
| Send hope before to grasp it, | |
| Till hope be lost in sight: | |
| Till Jesus gives the portion | |
| Those blessed souls to fill, | 10 |
| The insatiate, yet satiate, | |
| The full, yet craving still. | |
| That fulness and that craving | |
| Alike are free from pain, | |
| Where thou, midst heavenly citizens, | 15 |
| A home like theirs shalt gain. * * * * * | |
| Jerusalem demands them: | |
| They paid the price on earth, | |
| And now shall reap the harvest | |
| In blissfulness and mirth: | 20 |
| The glorious holy people, | |
| Who evermore relied | |
| Upon their Chief and Father, | |
| The King, the Crucified: | |
| The sacred ransomed number | 25 |
| Now bright with endless sheen, | |
| Who made the Cross their watchword | |
| Of Jesus Nazarene: | |
| Who, fed with heavenly nectar, | |
| Where soul-like odours play, | 30 |
| Draw out the endless leisure | |
| Of that long vernal day: | |
| And through the sacred lilies, | |
| And flowers on every side, | |
| The happy dear-bought people | 35 |
| Go wandering far and wide. | |
| Their breasts are filled with gladness, | |
| Their mouths are tun’d to praise, | |
| What time, now safe for ever, | |
| On former sins they gaze: | 40 |
| The fouler was the error, | |
| The sadder was the fall, | |
| The ampler are the praises | |
| Of Him Who pardoned all. | |
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