Classic Poem

Late thou comest, little one
Snow is on the stones.
Earth is bitter, little one,
Grey with mists and moans.
Thou art cold as we are cold,
Huddled with the lost.
Star of winter, star of want,
Crowned with the frost.

When the dim woods dream with heat
When the meadows shine
Sea-borne Aphrodite comes,
Earth-born Proserpine.
Pomps and pageants flower and fade
Revels stagger by,
Myth on myth like blossoms close,
Songs with summer die.

Tales no more can cheer us,
Streets are white and drear,
Son of Mary, hear us,
Seed of David, hear!

Bare thou comest, blessed one,
Clean of rod or crown.
Stark and poor, beloved one,
As God sends us down.
Thou art bare, as we are bare.
Bare as death and birth.
Naked as the stars and snows
We come upon the earth.

Princes kindle crowns with gems,
Garments load with gold.
Hunger's rags at least can show
Man's eternal mould.
Sins and secrets in their robes
Tyrants hide and hoard.
Hind and babe and angel stand
Bare before the Lord.

Rulers strike and shear us.
Spoil us, prince and peer.
Son of Mary, hear us,
Seed of David, hear!

Mild thou comest, mighty one,
Brave and undefiled
As, within the eternal man
Lies the eternal child.
Thou art kind as we are kind,
Knowing press and pain,
Bearing one another's loads,
Girt in common strain.

Kings are pale with scorn and wine,
Gibe at sweat and worth.
Priest and clowns and atheist
Join a cultured mirth.
Though we narrow be and dull,
Darkened though we be,
Let the wise men snarl and sneer,
We have love, and thee.

Arts come never near us,
Sages jest and jeer.
Son of Mary, hear us,
Seed of David, hear!

New thou comest, nascent one,
Little hands astray,
Where life formless lies, and void
As creation day.
Though our hopes for man be wild,
Starry, frantic, free,
All things now are possible
Unto God and thee.