A FOUNTAIN SEALED

                                                                       A FOUNTAIN SEALED

One brief phrase out of scripture I prefer

to other praise of her –

She was a woman who had learned the art

of pondering in her heart.

Of inner cherishing, keeping the word

by which her soul was stirred.

Beneath the literal integument

she sweetly bent

to inner meanings, limpid and profound,

that held her bound

to them for all the years that she should be,

tasting their ecstasy

much as the fleeting colour of a wing

might hold one pondering,

or poignant words of lovers, told apart

still rend the heart.

This is the woman I would stand before

at Nazareth’s unlatched door.

This is the radiant woman I would meet

on Bethlehem’s narrow street,

Serenely poised and beautifully wise,

whose soul burns in her eyes

Holding its secret wisdom, love-annealed,

as a fountain sealed.

Sister M Thérèse SDS

In: Give Joan a Sword.  MacMillan 1945