Come ev'ry pure and loving soul,

Harmonious concerts raise,

Sound Mary's praise from pole to pole,

Oh! strike your sweetest lays!

Let's sing on this, our festive day,

The triumph of our Queen,

Who mounts aloft and wings her way

To Heaven's realms serene.

The Son Divine, whom once she bore

And nourished at her breast,

Disdains to let her body pure

With sinful mortals rest.

p614 It was not meet that sacred fane

Of very grace divine,

Never defiled with sinful stain,

Should rest in human shrine.

From earthly chains at length set free,

She leaves this world below —

She flies, O God, she flies to Thee!

Whence purest pleasures flow.

Ten thousand thousand angels bright,

In sweet melodious song,

Attend their Queen's triumphant flight,

And 'round her joyous throng.

She sweeps the fields of ether pure,

Borne on the wings of love;

Seraphic spirits fly before,

And lead the train above.

They soar beyond the azure sky

To heaven's golden sphere;

The blazing portals open fly,

And welcome in the fair.

"And who is this, like troops array,

This dread and glorious one?

Fair as the moon, or opening day,

And chosen as the sun?"

Thus from within. — The Heavens nod,

And all the courts exclaim:

"She's mother to our Savior God,

And Mary is her name!"

p615 The King of ages, awful bows,

The Son leaps from his throne —

This greets his Mother, that his Spouse;

Their Queen the heavens own.

Refulgent rays of heavenly light

Gleam o'er the Virgin's face;

She takes her seat at Jesus' right —

The source of all her grace.

O Mary, now enthroned above,

Star of this boist'rous sea,

Receive the expressions of our love,

And guard us safe to thee.

To God the Father, and the Son

Born of the Spotless Maid,

And Holy Spirit, three in one,

Be endless honor paid.

Soft, beauteous plants of nature fair,

Which fost'ring hands with caution rear,

Or in the woods spontaneous grow,

Where purling streams in murmurs flow;

The fairest off'ring nature yields

To deck the fane or grace the fields!

Few, holiest ones of teeming earth,

Few rightly know to rate your worth.

Who can behold with pensive eye

The varied tints with which you vie

Even with the starry-vaulted sky,

p616 And not adore the potent hand

Which formed the hills and trembling land,

And from an undigested pile

Called forth the world, and bid it smile!

All nature chants her author's praise,

In mute, indeed, yet noblest ways;

But you, fair flowers, above the rest

Acquit yourselves of this the best.

I plucked you when the morning dew

Increased your native blushing hue;

I placed you by my Savior's side,

Where now you spread a fragrance wide,

While wafted on the breezy tide

Before the Lord you spend your bloom

And sweetly fill the sacred room.

Who will me grant, sweet plants, like you,

To Jesus forever true,

Before the Lord to spend my life,

Far from the noisy crowd of strife?

Oh! had I from my early years,

When infant age the soul endears,

Clad in the robes of innocence,

E'er paid my Lord the sweet incense

Of fervent, holy, loving prayer,

Free from the world's tumultuous care!

Ah, when shall I diffuse around,

As meads with flow'ry verdure crowned,

The odor sweet of virtue's works?

But ah! my torpid soul still lurks!

The gentle brooks, the verdant plains,

E'er laud their God in silent strains;

And shall not I pay to his name

My homage, too, so just a claim?

Yes, Savior God; yes, Jesus dear,

Hence, Thee to serve shall be my care;

p617 For Thee I'll spend life's fleeting day,

Till laid beneath the cold, damp clay;

Nor shall the grave's consuming sod

Debar my soul from Christ, her God!

For Him I'll live; for Him I'll die;

To Him I'll rise beyond the sky.

No more, ye flowers, I wish your lot,

For soon your pleasing bloom must rot;

But my immortal soul shall live

In endless bliss, if I now give

To God my life, and in the embrace

Of holy love preserve His grace.

O heavenly love! O sweetest thought,

Which soothes a life with evils fraught!

Arise, O child of faith! illume

The dark precincts of mortal tomb;

Hold forth, display your cheering light,

Dispel the gloomy shades of night!