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Three months after the Angel’s message-at the end of June,
The Woman who is bright as the sun and fair as the moon
Feels the Heart of her Infant throb beneath hers.
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In the womb of the Virgin Immaculate a new world begins,
The Child who is older than time enters time for our sins,
And with human breathing the First Mover stirs.
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Mary, heavy with child conceived by the Holy Ghost,
Is far fiom the sight of men with her heavenly Host,
Like the dove of the Canticle in the crannied wall.
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She moves not, she speaks not a word, she adores-no more;
Her life is within, her God is within to adore,
Her work and her son, her child, her all.
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The world is at peace, the temple of Janus is shut,
The scepter of David is gone and the prophets are mute,
Lo! darker than Hades, a dawn without light.
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For Satan holds sway and the world gives him incense and gold,
But into his kingdom God comes like a thief, and behold
A daughter of Eve puts the serpent to flight.
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The promised Messiah is come, for whom the world prays,
Men know not the good tidings yet, but, far from their gaze,
The Mother is circled by Cherubim bright.
Paul Claudel
