THE day the Christ-child's tender eyes Unveiled their beauty on the earth, God lit a new star in the skies To flash the message of His birth; And wise men read the glowing sign, And came to greet the Child divine. Low kneeling in the stable's gloom, Their precious treasures they unrolled; The place was rich with sweet perfume; Upon the floor lay gifts of gold. And thus adoring they did bring To Christ the earliest offering. I think no nimbus wreathed the head Of the young King so rudely throned; The quilt of hay beneath Him spread The sleepy kine beside Him owned; And here and there in the torn thatch The sky thrust in a starry patch. Oh, when was new-born monarch shrined Within such canopy as this? The birds have cradles feather lined; And for their new babes princesses Have sheets of lace without a flaw,— @3His@1 pillow was a wisp of straw! He chose this way, it may have been, That those poor mothers, everywhere, Whose babies in the world's great inn Find scanty cradle-room and fare, As did the babe of Bethlehem, May find somewhat to comfort them. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CAVALIER TUNES: MARCHING ALONG by ROBERT BROWNING HURRAHING IN HARVEST by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS AFTER MUSIC by JOSEPHINE PRESTON PEABODY QUITS by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE ROSEBUSH AND THE TRINITY by ALFRED BARRETT THE LAST MAN: MIDNIGHT HYMN by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES PSALM 3; WHEN HE FLED FROM ABSALOM; AUGUST 9, 1653 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE |