Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SANTA CRUZ, by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SANTA CRUZ, by                    
First Line: Hail thou cross of adoration! Was't in eden thou had'st / birth
Last Line: Waited'st thou messsiah—christ-man, to unite thy meanings twain!
Subject(s): Messiah; Missions & Missionaries; Saints


Hail thou Cross of adoration! was't in Eden thou had'st birth,
When the new-blessed parted waters found the corners of the earth!

Mystic sign in far-passed ages, when with bashful hand the Morn
First enwrapped with rosy mantle young Atlantis, ocean-born,

Is't by thee that man, an exile, keeps sad mem'ry of that land?
Or was't thou God's pledge of peace, when Eve bewailed her lifted hand?

Thou e'er deemed by God-taught sages, emblem of some strange new life,
Since man first on record tablets wrought his faith with cunning knife;

Borne by sculptured gods and monarchs, carved on temple, shaft and urn,—
Thou was't old when Egypt found thee; Persia young, of thee would learn.

Bars of death most ignominious, when disgrace was heaped on crime;
The accretion of man's venom gathered from the crypts of time.

Man's first promise to the future, in which life and death types meet;
Heritage of all the ages when ye lay at Jesus' feet.

Hail thou sign of life immortal! symbol of a death profane!
Waited'st thou MESSSIAH—CHRIST-MAN, to unite thy meanings twain!





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