Later Poems Part 23

O well, believe, they loved their dream, Those children of the star, Who saw the light and followed it, Prophetical, afar,-- Brave Caspar, clear-eyed Melchior, And eager Balthasar.

Another year slips to the void, And still with omen bright Above the sleeping doubting world The day-star is alight,-- The waking signal flashed of old In the blue Syrian night.

But who are now as wise as they Whose faith could read the sign Of the three gifts that shall suffice To honor the divine, And show the tread of common life Ineffably benign?

Whoever wakens on a day Happy to know and be, To enjoy the air, to love his kind, To labor, to be free,-- Already his enraptured soul Lives in eternity.

For him with every rising sun The year begins anew; The fertile earth receives her lord, And prophecy comes true, Wondrously as a fall of snow, Dear as a drench of dew.

Who gives his life for beauty's need, King Caspar could no more; Who serves the truth with single mind Shall stand with Melchior; And love is all that Balthasar In crested censer bore.

A Christmas Eve Choral

_Halleluja!

What sound is this across the dark While all the earth is sleeping? Hark!

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja!_

Why are thy tender eyes so bright, Mary, Mary?

On the prophetic deep of night Joseph, Joseph, I see the borders of the light, And in the day that is to be An aureoled man-child I see, Great love's son, Joseph.

_Halleluja!

He hears not, but she hears afar, The Minstrel Angel of the star.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja!_

Why is thy gentle smile so deep, Mary, Mary?

It is the secret I must keep, Joseph, Joseph,-- The joy that will not let me sleep, The glory of the coming days, When all the world shall turn to praise G.o.d's goodness, Joseph.

_Halleluja!

Clear as the bird that brings the morn She hears the heavenly music borne.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja!_

Why is thy radiant face so calm, Mary, Mary?

His strength is like a royal palm, Joseph, Joseph; His beauty like the victor's psalm.

He moves like morning o'er the lands And there is healing in his hands For sorrow, Joseph.

_Halleluja!

Tender as dew-fall on the earth She hears the choral of love's birth.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja!_

What is the message come to thee, Mary, Mary?

I hear like wind within the tree, Joseph, Joseph, Or like a far-off melody His deathless voice proclaiming peace, And bidding ruthless wrong to cease, For love's sake, Joseph.

_Halleluja!

Moving as rain-wind in the spring She hears the angel chorus ring.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja!_

Why are thy patient hands so still, Mary, Mary?

I see the shadow on the hill, Joseph, Joseph, And wonder if it is G.o.d's will That courage, service, and glad youth Shall perish in the cause of truth Forever, Joseph.

_Halleluja!

Her heart in that celestial chime Has heard the harmony of time.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja!_

Why is thy voice so strange and far, Mary, Mary?

I see the glory of the star, Joseph, Joseph; And in its light all things that are, Made glad and wise beyond the sway Of death and darkness and dismay, In G.o.d's time Joseph.

_Halleluja!

To every heart in love 'tis given To hear the ecstasy of heaven.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja._

Christmas Song

Above the weary waiting world, Asleep in chill despair, There breaks a sound of joyous bells Upon the frosted air.

And o'er the humblest rooftree, lo, A star is dancing on the snow.

What makes the yellow star to dance Upon the brink of night?

What makes the breaking dawn to glow So magically bright,-- And all the earth to be renewed With infinite beat.i.tude?

The singing bells, the throbbing star, The sunbeams on the snow, And the awakening heart that leaps New ecstasy to know,-- They all are dancing in the morn Because a little child is born.

The Wise Men from the East

(A LITTLE BOY'S CHRISTMAS LESSON)

_Why were the Wise Men three, Instead of five or seven?"_ They had to match, you see, The archangels in Heaven.

G.o.d sent them, sure and swift, By his mysterious presage, To bear the threefold gift And take the threefold message.

Thus in their hands were seen The gold of purest Beauty, The myrrh of Truth all-clean, The frankincense of Duty.

And thus they bore away The loving heart's great treasure, And knowledge clear as day, To be our life's new measure.

They went back to the East To spread the news of gladness.

There one became a priest To the new word of sadness;

And one a workman, skilled Beyond the old earth's fas.h.i.+on; And one a scholar, filled With learning's endless pa.s.sion.

G.o.d sent them for a sign He would not change nor alter His good and fair design, However man may falter.

He meant that, as He chose His perfect plan and willed it, They stood in place of those Who elsewhere had fulfilled it;