COMMENT to COMMENTARY to ‘Reflex’

COMMENT to COMMENTARY to ‘Reflex’

Page LAYOUT by Donald

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: William J
To: Donald
Sent: Sun, March 21, 2010 5:03:37 PM
Subject: Response: Passion of Mary 'O Lady Mary'

Dear Donald,

How very kind of you to ask of me a commentary on Francis' bewilderingly beautiful poem... I try below to express my thoughts that can never measure up to the vision of his mind.

_ _ _ _

I am delighting in Francis Thompson's exquisite poem "O, Lady Mary", as one who stands before a great canvas and loses oneself in the depth of meaning portrayed by the artist.

1. O Lady Mary, thy bright crown Is no mere crown of majesty; For with the reflex of His own Resplendent thorns Christ circled thee. * * * 2. The red rose of this Passion-tide Doth take a deeper hue from thee, In the five wounds of Jesus dyed, And in thy bleeding thoughts, Mary! * * * 3. The soldier struck a triple stroke, That smote thy Jesus on the tree: He broke the Heart of Hearts, and broke The Saint's and Mother's hearts in thee. * * * 4. Thy Son went up the angels' ways, His passion ended; but, ah me! Thou found'st the road of further days A longer way of Calvary: * * * 5. On the hard cross of hope deferred Thou hung'st in loving agony, Until the mortal-dreaded word Which chills our mirth, spake mirth to thee. * * * 6. The angel Death from this cold tomb Of life did roll the stone away; And He thou barest in thy womb Caught thee at last into the day, Before the living throne of Whom The Lights of Heaven burning pray.

It is the canvas of the Crucifixion, Our Lord suffering and dying upon the cross... and as I stand in awe before the scene portrayed, I find myself standing there in the darkness of Calvary at the death of Jesus, my eye drawn to Mary, O Mary... The picture is filled with deep areas of darkness and intense light. The light which streams upon Jesus from within the storm clouds of heaven, distraught at the suffering of the Son, illuminates the face of his beloved Mother who becomes both the focus of the artist's eye, and of the scene itself as Our Saviour 'breaths his last'. Mary bears the reflex of the summit of Jesus' agony, his crown of thorns, her face expressing all her pain and sorrow, illuminated by the light that the heavens pour down upon her dear Son, and her distress becomes the reflection of his own. The agony of Jesus that is portrayed is deepened by the anguish shown by Mary, the rose that falls at her feet from his crown of thorns becomes of a deeper hue, coloured by his blooded agony and her weeping heart's wound. The soldiers' lance fulfills its cruel deed thrice over, for as it pierces the "Heart of Hearts" of Jesus, it fulfills Simeon's prophecy in Mary of 'the sword that will pierce your own heart', and it pierces the heart of the beloved disciple [of us all who behold this scene], the one 'whom Jesus loved' as John stands devotedly beside the Mother of Jesus, John's face in the shadow of the cross. At his death Jesus, I see, is released from his earthly torment, but the torment for Mary would live on in her heart, for such images of her suffering Son would never leave her; for whilst she will indeed rejoice on the day of Jesus' resurrection and in the salvation afforded to all, as long as she were to live she would always remember the agony of those hours. As Our Saviour knew, Mary's release from the bonds of mortality alone would bring her relief from her crucifying memory of the death of her dear Son, when she could absorb into her being the joy that overcomes all sorrow, in the embrace of her dear Son, as she is assumed into Heaven to stand before his throne before the lights of Heaven. The key word for me in this exquisite poem is "reflex", which hold the meaning for me: if we now see a reflection as in a mirror, however darkly, we will one day see 'face to face'. In this poem, Mary is portrayed as the reflection of the agony of her dear Son, and if we may now see and live in that reflection, we too may with her see 'face to face' and reflect the glory of the Lord. William J. Wardle