Robert Stephen Hawker. 1804-1875
674. King Arthur's Waes-hael
WAES-HAEL for knight and dame!
O merry be their dole!
Drink-hael! in Jesu's name
We fill the tawny bowl;
But cover down the curving crest,
Mould of the Orient Lady's breast.
Waes-hael! yet lift no lid:
Drain ye the reeds for wine.
Drink-hael! the milk was hid
That soothed that Babe divine;
Hush'd, as this hollow channel flows,
He drew the balsam from the rose.
Waes-hael! thus glow'd the breast
Where a God yearn'd to cling;
Drink-hael! so Jesu press'd
Life from its mystic spring;
Then hush and bend in reverent sign
And breathe the thrilling reeds for wine.
Waes-hael! in shadowy scene
Lo! Christmas children we:
Drink-hael! behold we lean
At a far Mother's knee;
To dream that thus her bosom smiled,
And learn the lip of Bethlehem's Child.
Robert Stephen Hawker. 1804-1875
675. Are they not all Ministering Spirits?
WE see them not—we cannot hear
The music of their wing—
Yet know we that they sojourn near,
The Angels of the spring!
They glide along this lovely ground
When the first violet grows;
Their graceful hands have just unbound
The zone of yonder rose.