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! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ON THE SALE OF MY FARM by ROBERT FROST FICTION by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON TO OUR MOCKING-BIRD; DIED OF A CAT, MAY, 1878 by SIDNEY LANIER DR. SCUDDER'S CLINICAL LECTURE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: RICHARD BONE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |