Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris.

                                
                                  ma miȝtes has our lorde wroȝt
                                
                                  þen ani man mai þink in þoȝt:
                                
                                  bot man of trauþ is squa vnsely,
                                
                                  þai traw noȝt bot þai se wiþ ey;
                                  Line 284 
                                
                                  and þat vnneþis wil þai traw,
                                
                                  wiþ-outen signe of grete vertu.
                                
                                  me þink, if ȝe þe soþ haue soȝt,
                                
                                  þat syn þe werlde was first wroȝt,
                                  Line 288 
                                
                                  miraclis of þe crossis miȝt
                                
                                  has oft standen in stede and riȝt,
                                
                                  ouer and vnder, riȝt and left,
                                
                                  in þis compas god has al weft;
                                  Line 292 
                                
                                  ¶ bot-if man of him-selue be blinde,
                                
                                  vm-þink him wele he sal hit finde,
                                
                                  þe liknes of þis tree sa trew
                                
                                  was in þe alde laghe, be-for þe new,
                                  Line 296 
                                
                                  and in þe new laghe alsqua sere,
                                
                                  þat sum ar gode of for to here.
                                
                                  ¶ I þink þis is þat tree of blis
                                
                                  þat riȝtwisnes to bundin is.
                                  Line 300 
                                
                                  had adam fundin hit atte hande,
                                
                                  þar-wiþ he muȝt had life lastande;
                                
                                  þat plauntid hit is in paradis
                                
                                  and dos þe dede vp for to rise.
                                  Line 304 
                                
                                  ¶ and adam, quen he wroȝt had woghe,
                                
                                  vnder þis tree he him droghe,
                                
                                  þat did him god to resoun
                                
                                  and did him hope of pardoun.
                                  Line 308 
                                
                                  þe blode of abel hit crid als,
                                
                                  quen him had slaine his broþer fals;
                                
                                  wiþ-in þat cry was grete þing hid,
                                
                                  þat in þis cros now is kid.
                                  Line 312 
                                
                                  and dede, for soþ, had bene noe,
                                
                                  had noȝt him saued þat tree.
                                
                                  of foure corners þe arche was made,
                                
                                  als has þe cros of lange and brade;

                                  Line 316

About this Item

Title: Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris.
Author: Morris, Richard, ed. 1833-1894,
Canvas: Page 116
Publication: London,: Pub. for the Early English text society, by N. Trübner & co.,; 1871.
Subject terms: Crosses -- Legends.

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Collection: Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aha2702.0001.001
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Full citation: "Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris." In the digital collection Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/aha2702.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 30, 2025.

Legends of the holy rood; Symbols of the passion and cross poems. In Old English of the eleventh, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. Edited from Mss. in the British Museum and Bodleian Libraries, with introduction, translations, and glossarial index, by Richard Morris.

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