Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/458

VARIOUS POEMS And there perhance had ere another morn

Died of her shame and sorrows manifold,

But that a portress bade her pass within

For solace of her wretchedness or sin.

To whom the lost one, drinking now her fill

Of woe that wakened memories made more drear,

Said, "Was there not one Beatrice, until

Some time now gone, that was an abbess here?"

The convent's head, and still our mistress dear?

Look! even now she comes with open hand,

The purest, saintliest lady in the land!"

And Beatrice, uplifting then her eyes,

Saw her own self (in womanhood divine,

It seemed) draw nigh, with holy look and wise,

The aged portress leaving at a sign.

Even while she marvelled at that strange disguise,

There stood before her, radiant, benign,

The blessed Mother of Mercy, all aflame

With light, as if from Paradise she came!

From her most sacred lips, upon the ears

Of Beatrice, these words of wonder fell:

And in this house again my mercies tell,

For, in thy stead, myself these woeful years

Have governed here and borne thine office well.

Take back the keys: save thee and me alone

No one thy fall and penance yet hath known!"

Even then, as faded out that loveliness,

The abbess, looking down, herself descried

Clean-robed and spotless, such as all confess

To be a saint and fit for Heaven's bride. 428