Vestments

I have dressed myself in riches
like a lily clothed in gilt;
golden thread and silver stitches
cover velvet, cover silk.

I’ve adorned myself in fineries,
but I cannot trick your eye.
Naked underneath these vineleaves,
I have prayed you’ll pass me by.

Do not turn, O God of Eden,
in the cooling of the day
here to seek me.  You’ll not see, then,
how your daughter’s turned away,

for I stand in borrowed vestments
so to hide me from your sight,
and the soul’s own iridescence
here lies hidden from your light.

All these robes will not deceive you
when I kneel before your throne:
What I am when riches leave me
that I am and that alone.

Take your daughter to the desert;
lead this dust across the sand:
Casting off brocade and velvet
in your mercy I must stand.

Strip away the jewels and silver,
silken thread and cloth of gold,
as I stand before my builder:
Let your eye, O God, behold.

Alexandre Paynet (or Penet) (act. 1615–56)
Red Pontifical Vestments: Three Copes, 1619
Silk, gold and silver threads
Cope 1: 59 1/16 × 118 1/8 in., 14.15 lb. (150 × 300 cm, 6.42 kg); cope 2: 60 1/4 × 118 1/8 in., 16.05 lb. (153 × 300 cm, 7.28 kg); cope 3: 59 13/16 × 118 1/8 in., 13.65 lb. (152 × 300 cm, 6.19 kg)
Terra Sancta Museum, Jerusalem
https://www.frick.org/exhibitions/holy_sepulcher/10_a