Classic Poem

Great Magdalen, when Jesus sat at meat,
Thou, sin and grief polluted, stain on stain,
Didst pour the bitter torrent of thy pain,
Crouched in the dust beside His blessed feet.

Absolved and sanctified, in thy retreat,
Deep in the wilderness thou didst obtain
Through every bitter tear to see again
That bitter scene which made the bitterest sweet;

Thine eyes retaining the distracted stare
Once fixed at Calvary; and though the years
Gutter thy cheeks and wreck thine eyes with grief,
There was vouchsafed continual relief,
To raise a monument of grief so fair.
Blessed be God who gave such wealth of tears.