On Calvarý, for joy to Christ,
For help to men, where the holy rood
Had béen discovered, greatest of trees,
Of those that earth-dwellers ever heard named
Upon the earth. So she effected, 1015
After dear kinsmen brought from the west
Over the ocean many loved tidings.
Then bade the queen those skilled in crafts
To seek out apart, the best of all,
Those who most cunningly knew how to work 1020
In joinings of stones, on the open plain
God's temple to build. As the Warden of spirits
Her counselled from heaven, she bade the rood
With gold adorn and gems of all kinds,
With the most splendid of precious stones 1025
To set with skill, and in silver chest
To enclose with locks. There that tree of life,
Best of victor-trees, has since remained
In nature eternal.[1] There 'twill be ever ready
A help to the sick 'gainst every ill, 1030
Distress and sorrow. There soon will they
Through that holy creation assistance obtain,
A gift divine. Also Judas received
After fixed time the bath of baptism,
And cleansed became, trustful in Christ, 1035
Dear to the Life-warden. His faith became
Firm in his heart, when the Spirit of comfort
Made his abode in the breast of the man,
To repentance him urged. The better he chose,
The joy of glory, and the worse he refused, 1040