Southwell: The flight into Egipt

Alas our day is forc'd to flye by nyghte
Light without light, and sunne by silent shade
O nature blushe that suffrest such a wighte
That in thy Sunne this darke Eclipse hath made
Day to his eyes, light to his steppes denye
That hates the light which graceth every eye

Sunne being fledd the starres do leese their light
And Shyninge beames in bloody streames they drenche
A Cruell storme of Herods mortall spite
Their lives and lightes with bloody showres doth quench
The Tiran to be sure of murdringe one
For feare of sparinge him doth pardon none.

O blessed babes, first flowers of Christian springe
Who though untimely cropt fayre garlands frame
With open throates and silent mouthes you singe
His praise whome age permitts you not to name
Your tunes are teares your instruments are swords
Your ditye death and bloode in liew of wordes.

Notes

Background:

The Flight into Egypt. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

[12] And having received an answer in sleep that they [the wise men] should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country. [13] And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. [14] Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: [15] That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son. [16] Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. [Matthew 2] 

[First verse] day/light/sunne v nyghte/shade:  The imagery represents Christ  and His enemies, good and evil, love and hatred. The words of the ancient, Nicene Creed come to mind: Lumen de Lumine. Light from Light.Sacres scripture abounds with such imagery.

[15] Woe to you that are deep of heart, to hide your counsel from the Lord: and their works are in the dark, and they say: Who seeth us, and who knoweth us? [Isaiah 29]

[19] And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. [20] For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. [John 3]

[5] And this is the declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That God is light, and in him there is no darkness. [6] If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.[1 John 1]

[l3] wighte: A living being in general; a creature. Obsolete. A human being, man or woman, person. 
Now arch. or dialect (often implying some contempt or commiseration). The wighte here is presumably
Herod the Great (78-1 BC), tetrarch of Galilee and father of Herod Antipas (who beheaded 
John the Baptist and had a role in the Passion of Christ.

[Second & third verses]: These verses refer to the massacre of the Holy Innocents.

The Holy Innocents. JJ Tissot. Brooklyn Museum

[l7] leese: lose. See eg, 1605   Bacon Of Aduancem. Learning ii. sig. Aa2   'Water..doth scatter and leese it selfe in the ground, except it be collected into some receptacle.' In the absence of the sun, the stars have no light. With the flight of the Son of God, baby Jesus, into Egypt, the boy babies are fated to lose the light of their lives.
the boy babies are fated to lose the light of their lives.

[l11] Tiran: the tyrant, Herod. 

[l13] first flowers: first martyrs of Christianity, their lives being taken for Christ. Compare with the use in: 'The flower of English manhood perished in the mud of Flanders.'

[l18] ditye: The words of a song, as distinguished from the music or tune; also, the leading theme or phrase; hence, Subject, matter, theme, ‘burden’. liew: lieu, place

Coda

It is salutary when studying his poetry to recall that RS was writing in 'Christian', 'God-fearing' England at a time when belief in Christ and the one, true Church He founded risked grisly martyrdom under the Virgin Queen, 'Bloody Bess'.

The slaughter of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem finds its parallel in the butchery of men and women were innocent of any crime, condemned to die for staying faithful to the faith of their fathers.

For a passionately written account of these times written by a protestant, see: Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation (edited by FA Gasquet). 






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