| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 73. Melchizedek |
| By John Henry, Cardinal Newman (1801–1890) |
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Without father, without mother, without descent; having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.
THRICE bless’d are they, who feel their loneliness; | |
| To whom nor voice of friends nor pleasant scene | |
| Brings that on which the sadden’d heart can lean; | |
| Yea, the rich earth, garb’d in her daintiest dress | |
| Of light and joy, doth but the more oppress, | 5 |
| Claiming responsive smiles and rapture high; | |
| Till, sick at heart, beyond the veil they fly, | |
| Seeking His Presence, who alone can bless. | |
| Such, in strange days, the weapons of Heaven’s grace; | |
| When, passing o’er the high-born Hebrew line, | 10 |
| He forms the vessel of His vast design; | |
| Fatherless, homeless, reft of age and place, | |
| Sever’d from earth, and careless of its wreck, | |
| Born through long woe His rare Melchizedek. | |
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