On her deliverance from prison
O thou who art so frail and pure and white
like the primsnows that fecundate thy sod,
thou who hast seen the shadowed cross of God
bow past thy cell in thy remorseless night.
O man-sent Maid to conquer hell, o rod
of burning steel that flowered into light,
Maria, thou shalt see the holiest sight
since woman saw her first child in her blood.
