Gabriel, From The Heaven Descending

Gabriel, from the Heaven descending,

On the faithful Word attending,

Is in holy converse blending

With the virgin full of grace:

That good word and sweet he plighteth

In the bosom where it lighteth,

And for Eva Ave writeth,

Changing Eva's name and race.

At the promise that he sendeth

God the Incarnate Word descendeth;

Yet no carnal touch offendeth

Her, the undefilèd one.

She, without a father, beareth,

She no bridal union shareth,

And a painless birth declareth

That she bare the Royal Son.

Tale that wondering search entices!

But believe-and that suffices;

It is not for man's devices

Here to pry with gaze unmeet:

High the sign, its place assuming

In the bush, the unconsuming:

Mortal, veil thine eyes presuming,

Loose thy shoes from off thy feet.

As the rod, by wondrous power,

Moistened not by dew or shower,

Bare the almond and the flower,

Thus He came, the virgin's fruit:

Hail the Fruit, O world, with gladness!

Fruit of joy and not of sadness:

Adam had not lapsed to madness

Had he tasted of its shoot.

Jesus, kind above all other,

Gentle Child of gentle mother,

In the stable born our Brother,

Whom the angelic hosts adore:

He, once cradled in a manger,

Heal our sin and calm our danger;

For our life, to this world stranger,

Is in peril evermore.