 | Diana's Looking Glass and Other Poems by Charles D. Bell |  |
57
A CHRISTMAS LYRIC.
“What of the night?” O Watchman, we would know;
How long is darkness on the world to lie?
When will the dim and dreary shadows go,
And gleams of dawn flush all the radiant sky?
How long is darkness on the world to lie?
When will the dim and dreary shadows go,
And gleams of dawn flush all the radiant sky?
The night is long and dreary,—cold,—so cold,
With leaden feet the slow hours creep away,
Storm-voices sweep athwart the weald and wold,
And not a purple line predicts the day.
With leaden feet the slow hours creep away,
Storm-voices sweep athwart the weald and wold,
And not a purple line predicts the day.
On the first Christmas morning fair and calm,
From open'd heavens came a song of peace,
But sounds of strife seem to belie that psalm,
And cries of bitter anguish never cease.
From open'd heavens came a song of peace,
But sounds of strife seem to belie that psalm,
And cries of bitter anguish never cease.
Tears wet the eyes of sad and suffering men,
Earth fill'd with graves sounds hollow to the tread;
The King of Terrors holds his ancient reign,
And from unwilling arms he wrests our dead.
Earth fill'd with graves sounds hollow to the tread;
The King of Terrors holds his ancient reign,
And from unwilling arms he wrests our dead.
58
“What of the night, O Watchman?” the long night,
In which we stand disconsolate and forlorn?
Will never dawn the day upon our sight?
Will never come the golden light of Morn?
In which we stand disconsolate and forlorn?
Will never dawn the day upon our sight?
Will never come the golden light of Morn?
“Lift up your eyes,” the Watchman smiling said,
“And look unto the Eastern hills afar,
The Dawn already smites their lofty head,
And o'er them soon will rise the Morning Star.
“And look unto the Eastern hills afar,
The Dawn already smites their lofty head,
And o'er them soon will rise the Morning Star.
“Then will the shadows flee, the day will break,
And sunlight flash o'er all the world abroad,
Songs fill the silence, tuneful Birds awake,
And from Earth's altars, incense rise to God.
And sunlight flash o'er all the world abroad,
Songs fill the silence, tuneful Birds awake,
And from Earth's altars, incense rise to God.
“The skies shall open as they did before,
Upon that first and holy Christmas morn,
When Angels standing at the golden Door,
Sang ‘Glory! Glory!’ to the Newly-Born.
Upon that first and holy Christmas morn,
When Angels standing at the golden Door,
Sang ‘Glory! Glory!’ to the Newly-Born.
“And Christ shall leave His sapphire throne above,
And once again yon azure veil shall rend,
And downward borne on rapid wings of Love
'Midst songs of Saints and Seraphs shall descend.
And once again yon azure veil shall rend,
And downward borne on rapid wings of Love
'Midst songs of Saints and Seraphs shall descend.
“When He appears, the world's true Life and Light,
Then shall all death and darkness flee away,
And Earth emerging from the shades of night
Rejoice for evermore in cloudless Day.”
Then shall all death and darkness flee away,
And Earth emerging from the shades of night
Rejoice for evermore in cloudless Day.”
| Diana's Looking Glass and Other Poems by Charles D. Bell | |