Yet constant shines the Star from out the dark,
Heaven's finger touching earth with silvery ray.
Though Time tell of despair and misery stark,
Eternity assures us of the day.
O Mother with the sword within thy breast,
The Child Divine within thine arms may see,
E'en from thy lap, the issue sure, the rest
For man appointed after victory.
And when, in later years, He shall ascend
The painful Cross, He shall be satisfied,
And all the travail and the strife shall blend
In manhood, saved, redeemed, beatified.
O Child, in Mother's arms thus nurs'd and held,
Give us from love like her's to wake and rise,
Till from the Cross we see the dark dispell'd,
The City of God descending from the skies.
Give us Thy courage firm, Thy patience long,
Thy willingness to suffer for the right;
O give us of Thy faith, Thy love so strong,
The vision of the victory of the right.
Jerusalem, encompassed with arms,
Shall yet become the city of the free,
And discord, hatred, war, and war's alarms
Shall disappear for all eternity.
III.
The Quest of the Christ
The picture this poem was intended to illustrate represents one in vision beholding the Wise Men on their camels journeying towards the goal of their quest.
The Quest of the Christ