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Home  »  library  »  poem  »  To the Month of Mary

C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

To the Month of Mary

By Alfonso X of Castile (1221–1284)

From the ‘Cantigas’

WELCOME, O May, yet once again we greet thee!

So alway praise we her, the Holy Mother,

Who prays to God that he shall aid us ever

Against our foes, and to us ever listen.

Welcome, O May! loyally art thou welcome!

So alway praise we her, the Mother of kindness,

Mother who alway on us taketh pity,

Mother who guardeth us from woes unnumbered.

Welcome, O May! welcome, O month well favored!

So let us ever pray and offer praises

To her who ceases not for us, for sinners,

To pray to God that we from woes be guarded.

Welcome, O May! O joyous month and stainless!

So will we ever pray to her who gaineth

Grace from her Son for us, and gives each morning

Force that by us the Moors from Spain are driven.

Welcome, O May, of bread and wine the giver!

Pray then to her, for in her arms, an infant

She bore the Lord! she points us on our journey,

The journey that to her will bear us quickly!