Tabb Centenary Year XII

A lyric by Rev. John B. Tabb.

A Lenten Thought

Alone with Thee, who canst not be alone,
   At midnight, in Thine everlasting day;
Lo, less than naught, of nothingness undone,
   I, prayerless, pray!

Behold—and with Thy bitterness make sweet,
   What sweetest is in bitterness to hide—
Like Magdalen, I grovel at Thy feet,
   In lowly pride.

Smite, till my wounds beneath Thy scourging cease;
   Soothe, till my heart in agony hath bled;
Nor rest my soul with enmity at peace,
   Till death be dead.

1894 (p. 226, Religion: Lent and Easter)

[Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Roman Church. Magdalen is St. Mary Magdalen(e). The allusion is either to the Gospel story of the sinful woman washing the Lord’s feet with her hair, Luke 7:36-50 (traditionally, the woman has often been identified as the Saint, though the identification is not much more than conjecture), or to Matthew 28:8-10, wherein Mary Magdalen is one of the women greeted by the Risen Lord, or to both stories.]

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Wed. 02/25/09 07:49:20 AM
Categorized as Father Tabb Centenary Year & Literary.