English child of Eastern birth,
Welcome to our wondrous earth;
Welcome innocent blue eyes,
Opening upon Syrian skies;
Welcome, feet that soon will stand
On Judea's sacred land;
Bud from honorable stem,
Babe born at Jerusalem.
Were I of that faith of old
Christians held 'gainst Paynims bold,
I should say, the Virgin mild
Specially on thee had smiled,
That the Mother of all mothers
Had loved thine beyond the others,
Sending such a priceless gem
To her, in Jerusalem.
Or, if of still older creed,
Ere the world of Christ had need,
I should think of Rachel fair,
Hannah, who child Samuel bare;
Hebrew women, grand and calm,
Whose pure lives roll like a psalm
Down the centuries.
Who like them, Mothers of Jerusalem?
Little sweet god-daughter mine!
Thy fair unknown face will shine
Like the stars which shepherds see
Still, o'er plains of Galilee;
And thy unheard voice will fill
Silence, like Siloam's rill,
Where the hills in purple hem,
Stand about Jerusalem.
Babe, thy future who can see?
But we bless thee, full and free.
Walk, where walked Christ's stainless feet,
In the Temple and the street:
"Ploly, harmless, undefiled,"
Yet to parents human child;
Till thou walk with him — and them —
In the New Jerusalem.
