Yet Christ came not to sup with him,
And Christmas Eve fell chilly and dim.
“Where art Thou?” he would cry and hark,
While echoes answered in the dark....
Where was the Lord—was he afar,
Throned calmly on the central star?
Now suddenly there came a cry
As of a mortal like to die.
Up sprang the friar, the doors of oak
He flung asunder at a stroke.