In Praise of Mary

For the Month of May

I fain would sing a sweet new song

Thy loving Heart to greet,

I fain would cull the flowers fair,

And lay them at thy feet.

And of the precious virgin-gold

And shining jewels rare,

Would form a royal diadem, 

To grace thy forehead fair.

But ah! The heart-strings seem unstrung

And faint the music now,

I cannot place a golden crown

Upon thy queenly brow.

The first flowers fade too soon --

What shall the offerings be

From this poor exiled child of earth

O purest Heart, to thee?

I offer all the burning love

Of Jesus' Heart for thine,

And in the golden censer place

The little spark of mine.

And these, O Heart Immaculate,

Shall be my gifts to thee;

Oh I pray thy sweetest Son to grant

His love and thine to me.

- Anon
Taken from Volume I of the Carmelite Review, 1893, August Edition