So Gurnemanz performed the kingly rite,
Anointing Parsifal with holy oil,
And laid the hands of blessing on his head,
And said:  “So came the ancient word to us;
So with my blessing do I greet thee now,
And hail thee as the God-elected King! 
Thou art His guileless One, by pity ’lightened,
Patient in suffering, and taught by woe. 
Much hast thou suffered to redeem another;
God give thee now the grace for crowning all.”

Then Parsifal took water from the spring,
And came to Kundry kneeling at his feet,
And sprinkled her with solemn mystic rite,
And said:  “This be the first work of my trust. 
Kundry, in Christ’s dear name I sprinkle thee. 
Be thou redeemed and holy evermore!”

And in a passion of rejoicing tears
She kneeled there and her voice gave praise to God.

And Parsifal looked on the fields and woods,
So fair and radiant in the morning light,
And uttered forth the rapture of his heart: 
“How beautiful these morning meadows are! 
So fresh, so sweet, so radiantly pure! 
Full many a flower in other days I saw,
But full of subtle poison was their breath
And they were snares of baneful witchery. 
But these are God’s own blossoms full of grace. 
These twining vines that burst with purple bloom,
These fragrant flowers, so innocent and fair,—­
They speak to me of loving childhood’s days,
And tell me of the boundless love of God.”

Then Gurnemanz:  “On fair Good-Friday morn,
All nature seems a-thrill with new delight.”

And Parsifal:  “Yet strange that it is so. 
That darkest day of agony divine
Might well have cast a pall of gloom o’er all,
And plunged all Nature into deepest woe.”

“No, no,” the gentle Gurnemanz replied,
“The Saviour’s work hath wrought a miracle,
And now the grateful tears of penitence
Are holy dew that falls upon the world,
And makes it bloom in fair and lustrous beauty;
And all creation knows God’s saving work,
And praises Him for His redeeming grace. 
No more the agony of that grim Cross,
But now the joy of man redeemed and saved,
Freed from the load of sin by conquering faith,
And purified by Love’s great sacrifice. 
Each sprouting blade and meadow-flower doth see
Something of God’s grace in the heart of man;
For as the Lord was tender unto man,
So man in turn will love God’s flowering earth. 
The whole creation therefore doth rejoice,
And every bird and flower is full of praise,
And Nature everywhere is full of God,
And sweet has dawned this day of innocence.”

Then Kundry, with the tears still in her eyes,
Looked up at Parsifal, and soft he spake: 
“I saw the hearts that mocked us fade away,
But love shall bloom eternal in God’s grace. 
Blest tears that speak the blessing in thy heart. 
But weep no more.  God’s grace is full of joy,—­
Smile with all Nature, joyously redeemed!”