Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry. 1904.
I. The Divine Element(God, Christ, the Holy Spirit)Myrrh-Bearers
Margaret Junkin Preston (18201897)T
A-grope along the shadowy way
Where Joseph’s tomb and garden lay.
As the gray Orient’s waxing light
Brought back upon their awe-struck sight
The starkly standing cross they passed,
And, breathless, neared the gate at last.
A burden of such fragrant store
As never there had lain before.
That e’er the musky East possessed,
From Ind to Araby-the-Blest,
Searched all Jerusalem’s costliest marts
In quest of,—nards whose pungent arts
With vital odors through and through:
’T was all their love had leave to do!
Did either Mary once regret
Her offering? Did Salome fret
They counted not as waste, that day,
What they had brought their Lord. The way
Thenceforth, about the robes they ware
The clinging perfume everywhere.
Go women forth by twos and threes
(Unmindful of their morning ease),
Where’er they see the faintest rim,
Of promise,—all for sake of him
It just such joy as those of old,
To tell the tale the Marys told.
What paths have holy women trod,
Burdened with votive gifts for God,—
By this one thought, that all sufficed:
Their spices had been bruised for Christ!