98
CHRISTMAS EVE AT BETHLEEHEM.
Since that immortal night went by
The whole earth is our Bethlehem;
Hosannas ring from every sky!
In forest glade, on billowy main,
Judea's height, Nebraska's plain,—
By any shore or mount or sea
Where faith and hope and love abide
And self is lost in sacrifice,
There the celestial gates swing wide
And heaven descends to human eyes;
There Christ the Lord is born again;
There is his new Nativity!
The whole earth is our Bethlehem;
Hosannas ring from every sky!
In forest glade, on billowy main,
Judea's height, Nebraska's plain,—
By any shore or mount or sea
Where faith and hope and love abide
And self is lost in sacrifice,
There the celestial gates swing wide
And heaven descends to human eyes;
There Christ the Lord is born again;
There is his new Nativity!
Who sorrows for a vanished dawn
When east and west proclaim the sun?
Welcome be Bethlehem's silent lawn,
Its songless skies and shadows dun,
The Christ-thorn rustling in the hedge,
The chill wind's sigh by Kedron's edge—
The snow-wind blown from Lebanon!
When east and west proclaim the sun?
Welcome be Bethlehem's silent lawn,
Its songless skies and shadows dun,
The Christ-thorn rustling in the hedge,
The chill wind's sigh by Kedron's edge—
The snow-wind blown from Lebanon!
