Candlemas

Yesterday morning, the Feast of the Purification, I noticed on Fr Z's blog a poem for Candlemas written by John Henry Newman.

 THE Angel-lights of Christmas morn,

Which shot across the sky,
Away they pass at Candlemas,
They sparkle and they die.

Comfort of earth is brief at best,
Although it be divine;
Like funeral lights for Christmas gone,
Old Simeon’s tapers shine.

And then for eight long weeks and more,
We wait in twilight grey,
Till the high candle sheds a beam
On Holy Saturday.

We wait along the penance-tide
Of solemn fast and prayer;
While song is hush’d, and lights grow dim
In the sin-laden air. 

And while the sword in Mary’s soul
Is driven home, we hide
In our own hearts, and count the wounds
Of passion and of pride.

And still, though Candlemas be spent
And Alleluias o’er,
Mary is music in our need,
And Jesus light in store.

In the evening, I went to Mass at St Wilfrid's in York , where there was blessing of candles and a procession.  The poem was sung as a hymn at the end of Mass.   I had not heard it before.