* * *
May the Christ Child today this blessing bestow,
That the lambs of His flock be made whiter than snow!
II.
Jerusalem, 1917
No incident of the Great War gripped the imagination of the Christian world so much as the taking of Jerusalem in December, 1917, by General (Lord) Allenby. Though an incident in war, it yet had in it the promise of peace, since no shot was fired against the Holy City and the victorious commander entered the city on foot without parade of war.
Jerusalem 1917
O Mother, with the halo round thy brow,
Yet conscious of the Cross which looms so near—
What is the grim surprise which greets thee now?
What spectre grips thy maiden heart with fear?
What is it that, with half-averted face,
Thou seest sweep across the holy land,
Where all the towers and domes of David's race
From age to age in silent witness stand?
How ill, meseems, become those sacred fields
The tramp of warriors and the blast of war,
The gleam of steel and shock of swords and shields,
The noise of cannon booming from afar!
Is this the peace the angels sang when high
The glory burst upon the shepherds lone?
Is this the promised dawn when all the sky
Flamed with good news from Heaven's Almighty Throne?