The Presentation

They say it is a King His Temple entering!

The great veil doth not rock With gust and earthquake shock:

But all the air is stilled As at a law fulfilled.

Dreams from their graves rise up-- Melchizidek with cup;

Abraham most glad of heart, A little way apart.

Mary, to keep God’s word, Brings Babe and turtle-bird.

Lo! Simeon draweth in, And doth his song begin!

Great doom is for her Son, And Mary’s heart undone.

Oh, Simeon is blest, Christ in his arms is prest!

Mary’s sweet doves are slain, She takes her Babe again:

And in her heart she knows He will be slain as those:

And on her journey home She feels God’s kingdom come.

Passing some intervening poems, we take from the same sequence these two members of a group of imagined incidents on the evening of the Crucifixion: