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Blood-stained Altar Corporal
Blood-stained is the linen corporal
'Neath the chalice that had held white wine,
And some droplets stained the small square pall,-
The white wine had turned incarnadine.
Glorious shone the chalice of pure gold,
But the corporal beneath felt wet,
Lo! the celebrating priest was old,
Spilling droplets that had turned dark red.
Inexpressibly,- White wine Claret
Changed its color into crimson blood.
Seeping through the fabric with each thread,
Drinking up white yarns in tender flood.
Solid corporal - secure catch-all
Of small fragments lost or broken off,
Bits of sacred wafers formed too small,
Of this token sacrament of love.
Altar boys perhaps had overfilled
The small cruets from a nearby tray,
And the agéd priest had overspilled
'Ere pronounching words he had to say:
"HOC EST ENIM CORPUS MEUM "- eat !
"Come and eat and drink my friends, partake,
Of this food I give and that you need," -
Think of me when you my body break".
Anticeptic, well-starched, crisp and pure
Is our covering pall and corporal;-
Wounds, blood red, the Lord had to endure,
Blood-stained is the Lord's memorial.
Deacons! Sisters! - do not wash nor drain
This ineffaceable corporal,
Warp and woof and weft that do contain
Cleansing blood of Chist- our All in All.
Doubting congregations see your proof,
Affirmation and veracity
Of the Lord's unending tender love
Of His mercy and benignity.
There are many miracles of this kind,- i many places of the world.
