Woman's sacrament

Men were His last companions at the table
At that sad meal, within the upper room,
Striving to do the utmost they were able
To lift the shadow of His coming doom.

Men broke with Him the bread of consecration
And drained with Him the sacramental 'cup
 Through men He also suffered condemnation;
 By them the cruel cross was lifted up.

 The women He had taught and treated kindly,
Who had sat daily at the Master's feet,
Gathered in little' groups and waited blindly,
As they had waited in the learner's seat.

 For them there was no promise of tomorrow,
 No hope to carry with them through the years,
Upon their tongues the acid bread of sorrow,
And, on their lips, the bitter wine of tears.

 But, on the morning of the Resurrection,
Women were first to reach the open tomb,
 First with the evidence of their affection,
 First to put off the clinging shroud of gloom.

ANNA M. PRIESn.h