LXXXIX + 

Reverence + 

I bow at Jesu’s name, for ’tis the Sign + 

Of awful mercy towards a guilty line. + 

Of shameful ancestry, in birth defiled, + 

And upwards from a child + 

Full of unlovely thoughts and rebel aims + 

And scorn of judgment-flames, + 

How without fear can I behold my Life, + 

The Just assailing sin, and death-stain’d in the strife? + 

And so, albeit His woe is our release, + 

Thought of that woe aye dims our earthly peace; + 

The Life is hidden in a Fount of Blood! + 

And this is tidings good + 

For souls, who, pierced that they have caused that woe, + 

Are fain to share it too: + 

But for the many, clinging to their lot + 

Of worldly ease and sloth, ’tis written “Touch Me not.” + 