She'd bathed in the Jordan,
And prayed at the tomb
Of Christ Jesus. She told us
The keys to the welfare
And freedom of women
Have long been mislaid--
God Himself has mislaid them.
And hermits, chaste women, 90
And monks of great learning,
Have sought them all over
The world, but not found them.
They're lost, and 'tis thought
By a fish they've been swallowed.
God's knights have been seeking
In towns and in deserts,
Weak, starving, and cold,
Hung with torturing fetters.
They've asked of the seers, 100
The stars they have counted
To learn;--but no keys!
Through the world they have journeyed;
In underground caverns,
In mountains, they've sought them.
At last they discovered
Some keys. They were precious,
But only--not ours.
Yet the warriors triumphed:
They fitted the lock 110
On the fetters of serfdom!
A sigh from all over