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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LINES TO THE BLESSED SACRAMENT by JEREMIAH JOSEPH CALLANAN

Poem Explanation

First Line: THOU DEAR AND MYSTIC SEMBLANCE

Thou dear and mystic semblance,
Before whose form I kneel,
I tremble as I think upon
The glory thou dost veil, .
And ask myself, can he who late
The ways of darkness trod,
Meet face to face, and heart to heart,
His sin-avenging God?


My Judge and my Creator,
If I presume to stand
Amid Thy pure and holy ones,
It is Thy command,
To lay before Thy mercy's seat
My sorrows and my fears,
To wail my life and kiss
Thy feet In silence and in tears.


Oh God! that dreadful moment,
In sickness and in strife,
When Death and Hell seemed watching
For the last weak pulse of life,
When on the waves of sip and pain
My drowning soul was toss'd,
Thy hand of mercy saved me then
When hope itself was lost!


I hear
Thy voice, my Saviour,
It speaks within my breast:
Oh, come to Me, thou weary one,
I'll hush thy cares to rest;"
Then from the parched and burning waste
Of sin where long I trod
I come to Thee, Thou stream of life,
My Saviour and my God.




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