| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 366. ‘O Sovereign Lord, Thou Lover of Men’s Souls!’ |
| By Anna Bunston (Mrs. De Bary) |
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| THOU hope of all Humanity, | |
| What of all this that meets the sight, | |
| The blood, the tears, the misery? | |
| Raiment of needlework outspread | |
| Wrought curiously with golden thread, | 5 |
| That my bride may be fitly adorned to-night. | |
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| But, oh thou Bridegroom of the Soul, | |
| What of the sounds, the sounds of fear, | |
| The groans of men, the bells that toll? | |
| Thou hearest the minstrels tune their lutes, | 10 |
| Thou hearest the young men try their flutes | |
| For the feast of the marriage that draweth near. | |
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| Yet, oh thou Bridegroom of the Soul, | |
| What of the mind’s captivity? | |
| What of the spirit’s doubt and dole? | 15 |
| Out of the ebony halls of night, | |
| Aloes, cassia, myrrh, delight, | |
| The bride in her palace of ivory. | |
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| Then, oh thou Bridegroom of the Soul, | |
| What of the songs from woods new-clothed, | 20 |
| The laughing flowers, the sunlit knoll? | |
| My footsteps that follow along the shore, | |
| My fingers about the latch and door, | |
| My face at the window of my betrothed. | |
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