More bright than crowns of red anemones,
Which every flushing Syrian year
Saw laid upon Adonis’ bier
By mourning maidens on adoring knees.
More brightly flashed the drops of precious blood,
The rubies linked upon the shrine
Of Christ the Babe, the Christ divine,
To seal His body for the holy rood.
XLI
THE RETURN OF THE MAGI
How they did laugh, when mounting our camels
Three of us rode, obeying the light;
Slowly we cut our hearts from the trammels
Doubt flung around us that first wistful night.
Only a star above wind and rain,
Only a bloom on the passionless plain,
Waving us onward; yet we were right.
We thank Thee, Lord.
Oft we recalled that kindly derision,
Measuring seas of measureless sand,
Mocked by the streams and trees of the vision
Moving and melting at magic’s command.
Cheated and choked we quailed and burned,
While the blast blew and the desert was churned,
Slipping, it seemed, out of God’s own hand.
We praise Thee, Lord.
Onward we rode, where silver-meshed rivers
Sang to the birds which singing replied,
Where the soft light through rose-bowers quivers,
On past the voice of the bridegroom and bride.
Seeking the desert and star again,
Leaving the homesteads and fields of white grain
Where the doves called us to dream and bide.
We bless Thee, Lord.
Onward we went, past temples that brighten,
Sepulchres hiding souls that are dead,
Chambers where bought lips wearily whiten,
Altars and pavements with hecatombs red.
Onward we travelled to Bethlehem,
Guided from Zion, the earth’s diadem,
On to a stable and manger bed,
To greet Thee, Lord.
Dimly His eyes flashed, laden with presage,
Telling of strife and triumph to be;
Gracious His lips, and glowed with a message
Merciful, strong to set prisoners free.
Lord, use our myrrh and our urns of gold;
Fairer than children of men to behold,
Thine is the sceptre and victory!
We worship Thee.
XLII
ATONEMENT
What love it was that Thou shouldst choose to feel
The chill of valleys where no dawns emerge
To break the mist, and streams repeat the dirge
For faith crushed like a pearl beneath man’s heel.