THE EXILE'S SONG TO THE VIRGIN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIII, Issue 16, 7 August 1885, Page 23

THE EXILE'S SONG TO THE VIRGIN.

(By Patrick Sabsfield Oassidy.;

( Je vtnts salve, Vierge incomparable, orpin (let fimnde toutet let oertuet." ■ O Mary, queen of the angel land, On thy beaming throne of start, Who holdest the shield in thy guardian hand Which the darts of the tempter mars. When o'er the world I wander afar For a home my own land cannot yield, Be thon, Holy Mother, my guiding star, And my soul in all parity shield. And O, wberesoe'er through life I rove On the Virgin I'll rely ; For her heart's a gushing fount of love That never can ran dry. And whether a tropical nun's hot ray Shall burn above my head, Or far in the northern lands I stray With the silent snow for my bed, I'll look around and a type I'll see Of the Virgin where'er I go, For thoughts shall arise of her parity When I look on the stainless snow I And then I'll pray to the Virgin pure, Tbe wanderer's guiding star, To lead my steps through the world secure, When away 'mid the strangers far. When, the chaste, pure moon o'er the earth shall roll Her light from the starry sphere, ril whisper then to my listening soul — 'Tis the smile of the Virgin dear I And, again, when the beams of the broad noonday tftall stream from the bending skies, So the love of the Virgin warms, I'll say, Ihe soul that on her relies! And so, wheresoe'er through life I tore, On the Virgin I'll rely ; For her pity deep and ardent love Shall prompt a guardian eye 1 As I list by the shore to each wave that breaks So soft vn the silvery strand — • I will think 'tis the voice of the Virgin speaks To me from her angel land ; And I'll say when the surges roll in Bpume And lash on the sounding shore, , „ Thus obdurate souls to their dreadful doom '' ') ■ Bush on 'mid the demons' roar ! '-'''' On the billows of life, when tempest tost, O. the Virgin I'll implore To guide me safe till the ocean's ctossed To tbe bright eternal shore I '