Love spread the feast, then bade me come and eat,
Drink the sweet wine, and taste the heavenly bread;
But I did eat the fruits of emptiness,
And drank of dreams instead.
Within the deepness of this cup lay grief,
Regret, and hidden bitterness and pain;
Across the hurrying phantom of the years,
Love called to me again.
"I cannot enter now," I cried. "My robes
Are marred and stained with selfishness and sin."
Love heard me not, but smiled, and evermore
Bade me with joy come in.
But still I doubted, fearing to obey.
"I, the unworthy, with no wedding dress?"
Yet I drew ever nearer, unawares,
Drawn by such tenderness.
Love took and gathered me in shining folds
Of that dear grace, sufficient for the least
Or lowliest guest; and thus it was I sat
At that great marriage feast.
