Good Friday meditations

Wash me, and dry these bitter tears,

       O let my heart no further roam,

‘Tis Thine by vows, and hopes, and fears,

       Long since — O call thy wanderer home;

To that dear home, safe in Thy wounded side,

Where only broken hearts their sin and shame may hide.

~John Keble, The Christian Year, 1827  

Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat,

Sing, Heavenly Muse

~John Milton, Paradise Lost, 1667