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Poems of Optimism/The second coming

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For works with similar titles, see The Second Coming.
Poems of Optimism (1919)
by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
The second coming
122807Poems of Optimism — The second comingElla Wheeler Wilcox

How will Christ come back again,
How will He be seen, and where,
   Where His chosen way?
Will He come in dead of night,
Shining in His robes of light,
   Or at dawn of day?

Will it be at Christmas time,
When the bells are all achime,
   That He is re-born?
Or will He return and bring
Wide and wondrous wakening
   On some Easter morn?

When will this sad world rejoice,
Listening to that golden voice
   Speaking unto men?
Lives there one who yet shall cry
Loud to startled passers-by -
   ‘Christ has come again?’

List the answer - Christ is here!
Seek and you shall find him near -
   Dwelling on the earth.
By the world’s awakened thought,
This great miracle is wrought,
   This the second birth.

While you wonder where and now
Christ shall come - behold him now,
   Patient, loving, meek.
Looking from your neighbour’s eyes,
Or in humble toiling guise -
   Lo! the Christ you seek.

Look for him in human hearts,
In the shops, and in the marts,
   And beside your hearth.
Search and speak the watchword Love,
And the Christ shall rise and prove
   He has come to earth.

Sorrowful ofttimes is He
That we have not eyes to see,
   Have not ears to hear,
As we call to Him afar,
Out beyond some distant star,
   While He stands so near.

Seek Him, seek Him, where He dwells,
Chime the voices of the bells
   On the Christmas air.
Christ has come to earth again,
He is in the hearts of men,
   Seek and find him there.