Christmas in Legend and Story. Elva Sophronia Smith

the promise came,

       Gave to their orbs a heathen name,

       Saying how steadfast in men's view

       The watchful Pleiads stood.

      All in the solstice of the year,

       When the sun apace must turn,

       The seven bright angels 'gan to hear

       Heaven's twin gates outward yearn:

       Forth with its light and minstrelsy

       A lordly troop came speeding by,

       And joyed to see each cresset sphere

       So gloriously burn.

      Staying his fearless passage then

       The Captain of that host

       Spake with strong voice: "We bear to men

       God's gift the uttermost,

       Whereof the oracle and sign

       Sibyl and sages may divine:

       A star shall blazon in their ken,

       Borne with us from your post.

      "This night the Heir of Heaven's throne

       A new-born mortal lies!

       Since Earth's first morning hath not shone

       Such joy in seraph eyes."

       He spake. The least in honor there

       Answered with longing like a prayer—

       "My star, albeit thenceforth unknown,

       Shall light for you Earth's skies."

      Onward the blessed legion swept,

       That angel at the head;

       (Where seven of old their station kept

       There are six that shine instead.)

       Straight hitherward came troop and star;

       Like some celestial bird afar

       Into Earth's night the cohort leapt

       With beauteous wings outspread.

      Dazzling the East beneath it there,

       The Star gave out its rays:

       Right through the still Judean air

       The shepherds see it blaze—

       They see the plume-borne heavenly throng,

       And hear a burst of that high song

       Of which in Paradise aware

       Saints count their years but days.

      For they sang such music as, I deem,

       In God's chief court of joys,

       Had stayed the flow of the crystal stream

       And made souls in mid-flight poise;

       They sang of Glory to Him most High,

       Of Peace on Earth abidingly,

       And of all delights the which, men dream,

       Nor sin nor grief alloys.

      Breathless the kneeling shepherds heard,

       Charmed from their first rude fear,

       Nor while that music dwelt had stirred

       Were it a month or year:

       And Mary Mother drank its flow,

       Couched with her Babe divine—and, lo!

       Ere falls the last ecstatic word

       Three Holy Kings draw near.

      Whenas the star-led shining train

       Wheeled from their task complete,

       Skyward from over Bethlehem's plain

       They sped with rapture fleet;

       And the angel of that orient star,

       Thenceforth where Heaven's lordliest are,

       Stands with a harp, while Christ doth reign,

       A seraph near His feet.

THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN

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      ST. MATTHEW, II, 1–12

      Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

      Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

      When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all

       Jerusalem with him.

      And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

      And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

      And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

      Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.

      And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

      When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

      When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

      And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

      And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

THE THREE KINGS

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      HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

      Three Kings came riding from far away,

       Melchior and Gaspar and Baltasar;

       Three Wise Men out of the East were they,

       And they travelled by night and they slept by day,

       For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.

      The star was so beautiful, large, and clear,

       That all the other stars of the sky

       Became a white mist in the atmosphere,

       And by this they knew that the coming was near

       Of the Prince foretold in the prophecy.

      Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,

       Three caskets of gold with golden keys;

       Their robes were of crimson silk with rows

       Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,

       Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.

      And so the Three Kings rode into the West,

       Through the dusk of night, over hill and dell,

       And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast,

       And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,