Poem for February 5, 2027

"Delicta juventutis et ignorantius ejus, quoesumus ne memineris, Domine."

I left, to earth, a little maiden fair,

With locks of gold, and eyes that shamed the light;

I prayed that God might have her in His care

And sight.

Earth's love was false; her voice, a siren's song;

(Sweet mother-earth was but a lying name)

The path she showed was but the path of wrong

And shame.

"Cast her not out!" I cry. God's kind words come --

"Her future is with Me, as was her past;

It shall be My good will to bring her home

At last."