To Louise Imogen Guiney <br /> <br />Foreseen in Eve's desire, <br />Foreborne in Adam s bliss, <br />The whim of a dream on fire <br />Has brought the world to this: <br />Foregone was the break of order, <br />Ere the Will was disobeyed <br />And the Angel at Eden s border <br />Stood with a flaming blade. <br /> <br />This was at the beginning --- <br />What shall it be at the end! <br />For the first child borne in sinning <br />Will God or Nature befriend? <br />Eve s desire is yet burning <br />Fair women in country and town, <br />And Adam's bliss is turning <br />Empires and kingdoms down. <br /> <br />Is this the worth of a story, <br />Is this the dream of a song <br />A fabled blare of glory, <br />This battle of right and wrong? <br />O sweet, fair body of woman, <br />O strong, brave will of man <br />Co-equal in the human, <br />Unequal in the plan! <br /> <br />The deeds of warriors vanish, <br />The words of martyrs die, <br />But never the heart can banish <br />The drift of Helen's sigh. <br />Jerusalem is forsaken, <br />Gomorrah is a lure --- <br />Eve, once from her sleep awaken, <br />And Adam s kiss is sure. <br /> <br />But God is yet the Master, <br />The dramatist of the play; <br />If He wove an act of disaster, <br />He wove an act to allay. <br />Deep in the dream's forebeing <br />The Artist was greater than life <br />Who smiled at His own foreseeing <br />The Virgin mother and wife.<br /><br />William Stanley Braithwaite<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/mater-triumphalis-2/
