This is the Image of our Queen
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| The Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. Velasquez, c1635. Museo del Prado. |
This is the image of our Queen
who reigns in bliss above;
of her who is the hope of men,
whom men and angels love.
Most holy Mary, at thy feet
I bend a suppliant knee;
in this thy own sweet month of May,
do thou remember me.
The homage offered at the feet
of Mary’s image here
to Mary’s self at once ascends
above the starry sphere.
Most holy Mary, at thy feet
I bend a suppliant knee;
in all my joy, in all my pain,
do thou remember me.
How fair so ever be the form
which here your eyes behold,
its beauty is by Mary’s self
excell’d a thousandfold.
Most holy Mary, at thy feet,
I bend a suppliant knee;
in my temptations each and all,
do thou remember me.
Sweet are the flow’rets we have culled,
this image to adorn;
but sweeter far is Mary’s self,
that rose without a thorn.
Most holy Mary, at thy feet
I bend a suppliant knee;
when on the bed of death I lie,
do thou remember me.
O Lady, by the stars that make
a glory round thy head,
and by the pure uplifted hands,
that for thy children plead;
when at the Judgement seat I stand,
and my dread Saviour see,
when waves of night around me roll
and hell is raging for my soul;
do thou remember me.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
