Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Robert Southwell (1561?–1595)At Home in Heaven
| FRAIL soul! how long shall veils thy graces shroud? | |
| How long shall this exile withhold thy right? | |
| When will thy sun disperse his mortal cloud, | |
| And give thy glories scope to blaze their light? | |
| Oh, that a star, more fit for angels’ eyes, | 5 |
| Should pine in earth, not shine above the skies! | |
| Thy ghostly beauty offer’d force to God, | |
| It chainèd Him in links of tender love; | |
| It won His will with man to make abode; | |
| It stay’d His sword, and did His wrath remove: | 10 |
| It made the rigour of His justice yield, | |
| And crownèd Mercy empress of the field. | |
| This brought Him from the ranks of heavenly quires | |
| Into this vale of tears and cursèd soil; | |
| From flowers of grace into a world of briars, | 15 |
| From life to death, from bliss to baleful toil. | |
| This made Him wander in our pilgrim weed, | |
| And taste our torments to relieve our need. | |