Here meet together the prefiguring day
     And day prefigured. 'Eating, thou shalt stand,
    Feet shod, loins girt, thy road-staff in thine hand,
With blood-stained door and lintel,' — did God say
By Moses' mouth in ages passed away.
     And now, where this poor household doth comprise
     At Paschal-Feast two kindred families, —
Lo! the slain lamb confronts the Lamb to slay.

The pyre is piled. What agony's crown attained,
     What shadow of death the Boy's fair brow subdues
Who holds that blood wherewith the porch is stained
     By Zachary the priest? John binds the shoes
     He deemed himself not worthy to unloose;
And Mary culls the bitter herbs ordained.