In Cruce Regnans

ENTHRONED above the sages and the saints. Above all kings that e'er had empery, And wielded sceptres over land and sea, More nobly crown'd than all that fancy paints Of any monarch, — lo ! thy life-blood taints Thy cross of unimagined agony, Whereon, thorn-diadem'd, thus patiently Thou hangest, while to death thy body faints; Therefore thy crown is every crown above. Thou mighty martyr of the truth divine Declared for ever in the cross thy sign, The ultimate teaching thou dost seal and prove In that unfathomable death of thine. The highest good, self-sacrificing love.