Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1918.djvu/1092

 Never a lady did He choose,

Only a maid of low degree,

So humble she might not refuse

The carpenter of Galilee.

A daughter of the people, she.

Out she sang the song of her heart.

Never a lady so had sung.

She knew no letters, had no art;

To all mankind, in woman's tongue,

Hath Israelitish Mary sung.

And still for men to come she sings,

Nor shall her singing pass away.

&apos;He hath filed the hungry with good things'—

O listen, lords and ladies gay—

&apos;And the rich He hath sent empty away.&apos;

��884 Punctilio

LET me be in loving nice,

Dainty, fine, and o'er precise,

That I may charm my charmed dear

As tho' I felt a secret fear

To lose what never can be lost,

Her faith who still delights me most!

So shall I be more than true,

Ever in my ageing new.

So dull habit shall not be

Wrongly call'd Fidelity.