Classic Poem

M ADRIGAL

I F thou hadst offered, friend, to blessed Mary
  A pious voluntary,
 As thus: ‘Fair rose, in holy garden set:’
Thou then hadst found a true similitude:
  Because all truth and good
 Are hers, who was the mansion and the gate
Wherein abode our High Salvation,
  Conceived in her, a Son,
 Even by the angel's greeting whom she met.
Be thou assured that if one cry to her,
  Confessing, ‘I did err,’
 For death she gives him life; for she is great.

Ah! how may'st thou be counselled to implead
  With God thine own misdeed,
 And not another's? Ponder what thou art;
  And humbly lay to heart
That Publican who wept his proper need.
The Lesser Brethren cherish the divine
  Scripture and church-doctrine;
Being appointed keepers of the faith
  Whose preaching succoureth:
For what they preach is our best medicine.