Poems (Ford)/Magdalen

For works with similar titles, see Magdalen.
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MAGDALEN.
Lo! Israel's erring daughter, lowly kneeling  At Jesus' feet, with heart repentant bowed, Her beauteous eyes upraised in mute appealing,  Amid the scandalized, self-righteous crowd.
The haughty Pharisees look on in horror,—  A dreadful sacrilege it seems to them To see this fallen child of sin and error  Approach a Prophet of Jerusalem.
Unmindful of the scowling brows around her,  Her tears fall on the Saviour’s feet like rain; Their crystal torrents burst the links that bound her  A captive, fettered by sin’s heavy chain.
The glossy waves of her once jewelled tresses  To wipe His sacred feet far down unroll; His calm, mild glance of sweet forgiveness blesses  And sheds a balm upon her sin-sick soul.
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From countless sins that barred the way to heaven  The Saviour's lips have uttered her release,— Because she has much loved, much is forgiven;  She hears the blest words, "Daughter, go in peace."
Cold, worldly heart, walled in by pride unbending,  If thou wouldst listen to those accents sweet, Thou, from thy vain self-righteousness descending,  Must, like Magdalen, kneel at Jesus' feet.

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