Blossom for ever, blossoming Rod!
Thou did'st not blossom once to die:
That Life which, issuing forth from God,
Thy life enkindled, runs not dry.
Without a root in sin-stained earth,
'Twas thine to bud Salvation's flower.
No single soul the Church brings forth
But blooms from thee and is thy dower.
Rejoice, O Eve! thy promise waned;
Transgression nipt thy flower with frost
But, lo! a mother man hath gained
Holier than she in Eden lost.