On the Wounds of Our Crucified Lord
Richard Crashaw

O these wakeful wounds of thine!
----Are they mouths? or are they eyes?
Be they mouths, or be they eyne,
----Each bleeding part some one supplies.

Lo! a mouth, whose full-bloomed lips
----At too dear a rate are roses.
Lo! a bloodshot eye! that weeps
----And many a cruel tear discloses.

O thou that on this foot hast laid
----Many a kiss and many a tear,
Now thou shalt have all repaid,
----Whatsoe'er thy charges were.

This foot hath got a mouth and lips
----To pay the sweet sum of thy kisses;
To pay thy tears, an eye that weeps
----Instead of tears such gems as this is.

The difference only this appears
----(Nor can the change offend),
The debt is paid in ruby-tears
----Which thou in pearls didst lend.

Return to Other Writers

Return to Main Menu

1