[VI]
i
May the good King
That guards like sheep
Kings and shepherds all
Send us quiet sleep!
Shepherds great and small
Has He in hold;
There need no danger
Threaten field or fold.
Lowly in a manger
That King was born
Of maid undefiled
On a winter's morn.
He lay a little child
On His mother's knee;
Three kings out of the East
Came Him to see.
On a mother's breast
Still did He lie:
Said one king to the other,
"Such once was I!"
Then said his brother,
"Even thus, I trow,
Once lay thy simplicity,
But where is that now?"
ii
How many a woman's eyes are worn,
Weeping a murder'd son!
How many wish none they had borne
To do as theirs have done!
Who dares to see a mask of hate
And snarling on the face
Which she had pray'd to consecrate
To honour for a space?