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...THE WANDERER: 2. IN FRANCE: THE PORTRAIT by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON ALEXANDER'S FEAST; OR, THE POWER OF MUSIC by JOHN DRYDEN MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET: CHORUS (2) by THOMAS CAMPION THE WINTER SCENE by BLISS CARMAN |