Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/478

VARIOUS POEMS And joyed to see each cresset sphere

So gloriously burn.

Staying his fearless passage then

The Captain of that host

Spake with strong voice: "We bear to men

God's gift the uttermost,

Whereof the oracle and sign

Sibyl and sages may divine:

A star shall blazon in their ken,

Borne with us from your post.

"This night the Heir of Heaven's throne

A new-born mortal lies!

Since Earth's first morning hath not shone

Such joy in seraph eyes."

He spake. The least in honor there

Answered with longing like a prayer,—

"My star, albeit thenceforth unknown,

Shall light for you Earth's skies."

Onward the blessed legion swept,

That angel at the head;

(Where seven of old their station kept

There are six that shine instead.)

Straight hitherward came troop and star;

Like some celestial bird afar

Into Earth's night the cohort leapt

With beauteous wings outspread.

Dazzling the East beneath it there,

The Star gave out its rays:

Right through the still Judean air

The shepherds see it blaze,—

They see the plume-borne heavenly throng,

And hear a burst of that high song 448