“Tell me what is this innumerable throng
Singing in the heavens a loud angelic song?
These are they who come with swift and shining feet
From round about the throne of God the Lord of Light to greet.”
“The night was darker than ever before
(So dark is sin)
When the Great Love came to the stable door
And entered in.
“And laid himself in the breath of kine
And the warmth of hay
And whispered to the stars to shine,
And to break, the day.”
“The Christ-child lay on Mary’s lap.”
“Sleep, Holy Babe, upon thy mother’s breast;
Great Lord of earth and sea and sky,
How sweet it is to see thee lie
In such a place of rest.
“Sleep, Holy Gabe, thine angels watch around,
All bending low with folded wings
Before the incarnate king of kings,
In reverent awe profound.”
- ↑ From Ode to Girlhood and Other Poems, copyright 1899, by Harper and Brothers.