The Holy Eucharist

Honey in the lion’s mouth,
Emblem mystical, divine,
How the sweet and strong combine;
Cloven rock for Israel’s drougth;
Treasure-house of golden grain
By our Joseph laid in store,
In his brethren’s famine sore
Freely to dispense again;
Dew on Gideon’s snowy fleece;
Well, from bitter turned to sweet;
Shew-bread laid in order meet,
Bread whose cost doth ne’er increase,
Though no rain in April fall;
Horeb’s manna freely given
Showered in white dew from heaven,
Marvelous, angelical;
Weightiest bunch of Canaan’s vine;
Cake to strengthen and sustain
Through long days of desert pain;
Salem’s monarch’s bread and wine;–
Thou the antidote shalt be
Of my sickness and my sin,
Consolation, medicine,
Life and Sacrament to me.

— trans. R.C. Trench

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