January 1: Solemnity of Mary ("Our tainted nature's solitary boast...")

The Virgin

by William Wordsworth

(1770-1850)

Mother!  Whose virgin bosom was uncrost

With the least shade of thought to sin allied;

Woman! Above all women glorified,

Our tainted nature's solitary boast;

Purer than foam on central ocean tost;

Brighter than eastern skies at daybreak strewn

With fancied roses, than the unblemished moon

Before her wane begins on heaven's blue coast;

Thy image falls to earth. Yet some, I ween,

Not forgiven, the suppliant knee might bend

As to a visible power, in which did blend

All that was mixed and reconciled in thee

Of mother's love with maiden purity,

Of high and low, celestial with terrine.