More on the Faithful Tree

The Ruthwell Cross

 

thinking more about the Holy Rood

Faithful Cross, above all other,

one and only noble Tree.

none in foliage, none in blossom,

none in fruit thy peer may be.

Sweet the wood and sweet the iron,

and thy load, most sweet is he.

Bend, O lofty Tree, thy branches,

thy too rigid sinews bend;

and awhile the stubborn harshness,

which thy birth bestowed, suspend;

and the limbs of heaven’s high Monarch

gently on thine arms extend.

Thou alone wast counted worthy

this world’s ransom to sustain,

that a shipwrecked race for ever

might a port of refuge gain,

with the sacred Blood anointed

of the Lamb for sinners slain.

from the Office of Readings

Here it is in Latin

CRUX fidelis,
inter omnes
arbor una nobilis;
nulla talem silva profert,
flore, fronde, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulci clavo,
dulce pondus sustinens!

Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
tensa laxa viscera,
et rigor lentescat ille,
quem dedit nativitas,
ut superni membra Regis
miti tendas stipite.

Sola digna tu fuisti
ferre saeculi pretium,
atque portum praeparare
nauta mundo naufrago,
quem sacer cruor perunxit,
fusus Agni corpore.