Black Magdalens

These have no Christ to spit and stoop
    To write upon the sand,
Inviting him that has not sinned
    To raise the first rude hand.

And if he came they could not buy
    Rich ointment for his feet,
The body’s sale scarce yields enough
    To let the body eat.

The chaste clean ladies pass them by
    And draw their skirts aside,
But Magdalens have a ready laugh;
    They wrap their wounds in pride.

They fare full ill since Christ forsook
    The cross to mount a throne,
And Virtue still is stooping down
    To cast the first hard stone.