Ancilla Domini - A Poem in Honor of Our Lady

Ancilla Domini

A handmaid once did live in days of God’s good, golden earth;

She was the girl who knelt before Him,

He to whom she gave birth.

An angel came, declaring to her things mystic, absurd:

She was the girl who knelt before Him,

And so received the Word.

A nodded head her answer was, no doubt of Man to heed,

For she was the girl who knelt before Him,

Her “Fiat” her one creed.

A mother was she all His days as, growing, He prepared;

She was the one who knelt before Him

Before all others dared.

She walked with Him his weary way as Sorrow’s Mother, Heir,

And she was the girl who knelt before Him

As He hung, dying, there.

What pain did prick that purest heart when seeing naught but sin?

She was the girl who knelt before Him

When Man made mocking din.

The Word, unheard, did seem to go, in silence three long days,

But despite grief, she knelt before Him

When faded was His Face.

And when return-ed He from rest, new life rang in the lands,

And she was the girl who knelt before Him,

Kissed his pierc-ed hands.

To His Will stay’ng, though sorrowful, Maid did her Master miss,

She was the girl who knelt before Him,

Her heart heavy with His. 

But death’s bells came like sweet chimes tolling when united was she,

The girl who often knelt before Him,

With sweet Eternity.

Beauty’s Bliss, Divine Son, was her dolor there to drown,

For she was the girl who knelt before Him,

And He gave her a crown.

J.M.J.