 | The complete poems of S. Weir Mitchell |  |
LINES GIVEN TO M. AT CHRISTMAS
WITH A GIFT OF THE VIRGIN OF LUINI
What shall I give thee, dear, to-day,
Upon this sacred Christmas morn,
That tells us of the gift of love
God gave when Christ was born,
Upon this sacred Christmas morn,
That tells us of the gift of love
God gave when Christ was born,
And hope became a seraph winged
With timeless dreams, and love elate
Saw with young eyes another world
Where love's lost angels wait?
With timeless dreams, and love elate
Saw with young eyes another world
Where love's lost angels wait?
Ah, small were any richest gift
Without such love as thro' the years
Was sweeter for the hour of joy
And nobler for the day of tears.
Without such love as thro' the years
Was sweeter for the hour of joy
And nobler for the day of tears.
383
Take, then, with love this gentle face
That had a more than human share
Of joy and grief, and haply, too,
Through the long years of sorrow bore
That had a more than human share
Of joy and grief, and haply, too,
Through the long years of sorrow bore
In that gray village of the hills,
The sense of some diviner loss
Than death deals out, and evermore
The anguish of the lifted cross.
The sense of some diviner loss
Than death deals out, and evermore
The anguish of the lifted cross.
1905.
| The complete poems of S. Weir Mitchell | |