A First Series of Hymns and Songs/Sacred Songs/The Visit to the Image of Mary
20. The Visit to the Image of Mary.
Come let us here repose, and gaze
On Mary's face awhile;
We wander to and fro all day,
And now we want her smile.
The godless look of things without,
Oh, how it drives us here,
To prize with grateful hearts the bliss
Of finding Mary near!
The very walls we pass each day
Cry out their impious tale;
And blasphemies are heard that make
The stoutest spirit quail.
Oh, leave we, then, the crowded streets,
Their noise and dust and glare;
We've thought and talk'd and sinn'd since morn,
We need a moment's prayer.
A player breath'd forth will calm the soul;
Faith lifts the veil, and we,
Children of Mary, see her star
Shine o'er the restless sea.
We gaze with faith's rejoicing eye
On what seemed dark erewhile;
Then to the world and home we bear
The brightness of her smile.