O Christ, the Vine with living Fruit, <br />The twelvefold-fruited Tree of Life, <br />The Balm in Gilead after strife, <br />The valley Lily and the Rose; <br />Stronger than Lebanon, Thou Root; <br />Sweeter than clustered grapes, Thou Vine; <br />O Best, Thou Vineyard of red wine, <br />Keeping thy best wine till the close. <br /> <br />Pearl of great price Thyself alone, <br />And ruddier than the ruby Thou; <br />Most precious lightning Jasper stone, <br />Head of the corner spurned before: <br />Fair Gate of pearl, Thyself the Door; <br />Clear golden Street, Thyself the Way; <br />By Thee we journey toward Thee now, <br />Through Thee shall enter Heaven one day. <br /> <br />I thirst for Thee, full fount and flood; <br />My heart calls Thine, as deep to deep: <br />Dost Thou forget Thy sweat and pain, <br />They provocation on the Cross? <br />Heart-pierced for me, vouchsafe to keep <br />The purchase of Thy lavished Blood: <br />The gain is Thine, Lord, if I gain; <br />Or if I lose, Thine own the loss. <br /> <br />At midnight (saith the Parable) <br />A cry was made, the Bridegroom came; <br />Those who were ready entered in: <br />The rest, shut out in death and shame, <br />Strove all too late that Feast to win, <br />Their die was cast, and fixed their lot; <br />A gulf divided Heaven from Hell; <br />The Bridegroom said—I know you not. <br /> <br />But Who is this that shuts the door, <br />And saith—I know you not—to them? <br />I see the wounded hands and side, <br />The brow thorn-tortured long ago: <br />Yea; This Who grieved and bled and died, <br />This same is He Who must condemn; <br />He called, but they refused to know; <br />So now He hears their cry no more.<br /><br />Christina Georgina Rossetti<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/i-know-you-not-2/
