Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARY MAGDALENE, by GEORGE HERBERT


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARY MAGDALENE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When blessed marie wip'd her saviours feet
Last Line: And yet, in washing one, she washed both.
Variant Title(s): Marie Magdalene
Subject(s): Mary Magdalen; Women In The Bible; Mary Magdalene


WHEN blessed Marie wip'd her Saviours feet,
(Whose precepts she had trampled on before,)
And wore them for a jewell on her head,
Shewing his steps should be the street
Wherein she thenceforth evermore
With pensive humblenesse would live and tread:

She being stain'd herself, why did she strive
To make Him clean who could not be defil'd?
Why kept she not her tears for her own faults,
And not his feet? Though we could dive
In tears like seas, our sinnes are pil'd
Deeper then they in words, and works, and thoughts.

Deare soul, she knew who did vouchsafe and deigne
To bear her filth, and that her sinnes did dash
Ev'n God himself: wherefore she was not loth,
As she had brought wherewith to stain,
So to bring in wherewith to wash;
And yet, in washing one, she washed both.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net