Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Asia: Vols. XXI–XXIII. 1876–79. | | | | Syria: Magdala | | Mary Magdalene | | Thomas Moore (1779–1852) |
| | | WERE not the sinful Mary’s tears | |
| An offering worthy heaven, | |
| When o’er the faults of former years | |
| She wept,—and was forgiven? | |
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| When, bringing every balmy sweet | 5 |
| Her day of luxury stored, | |
| She o’er her Saviour’s hallowed feet | |
| The precious perfumes poured; | |
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| And wiped them with that golden hair | |
| Where once the diamond shone, | 10 |
| Though now those gems of grief were there | |
| Which shine for God alone! | |
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| Were not those sweets so humbly shed, | |
| That hair, those weeping eyes, | |
| And the sunk heart, that inly bled, | 15 |
| Heaven’s noblest sacrifice? | |
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| Thou that hast slept in error’s sleep, | |
| O, wouldst thou wake in heaven, | |
| Like Mary kneel, like Mary weep, | |
| Love much,—and be forgiven! | 20 | | | |
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