Page:Soldier poets, songs of the fighting men, 1916.djvu/62

Rh Christmas Eve—and we watch'd till the morn

Should rise and repeat how a Babe was born;

And our hearts within us were sad as we scann'd

The stars that spake not of Peace for our land.

Christmas Eve—and oh, to espy,

Like Bethlehem's shepherds, the hosts of the sky,

Their voices blent in rapturous mirth—

"Glory to God and Peace upon Earth!"

Christmas Eve—but set was the star

That guided the kings from regions afar—

Oh, soon may it rise and lead us again

Where One doth in peace and equity reign.

To Our Child Unborn

O offspring art thou of a dreamer's rhyme;

But when my thought and hers, immaculate,

Conceiv'd thee thou didst leap, full-grown, elate,

Over the high-embattled walls of Time,

To watch our ways from some invisible clime,

Where, holding yet celestial estate,

In quietude thou dost the call await

To disarray thee of thy gear sublime. 58