The gift most gracious and most great,

It would not be such gifts as these

That I should pray for on my knees.

No, I should ask a greater grace—

A little, quiet, firelit place,

Warm-curtained, violet-sweet, where she

Should hold my baby on her knee.

There she should sit and softly sing

The songs my heart hears echoing;

And I, made pure by joy, should come