It was the very noon of night
The stars above the fold
More sure than clock or chiming bell
The hour of midnight told;
When from the heavens there came a voice
And forms were seen to shine
Still brightening as the music rose
With light and love divine.
With love divine the song began;
There shone a light serene:
Oh
who hath heard what I have heard
Or seen what I have seen?
Or seen what I have seen!
ne’er could nightingale at dawn
Salute the rising day
With sweetness like that bird of song
In his immortal lay;
ne’er were wood-notes heard at eve
By banks with poplar shade
So thrilling as the concert sweet
By heav’nly harpings made;
For love divine was in each chord
And filled each pause between:
I roused me at the piercing strain
But shrunk as from the ray
Of summer lightning; all around
So bright the splendor lay.
For oh
it mastered sight and sense
To see that glory shine
To hear that minstrel in the clouds
Who sang of love divine
To see that form with bird-like wings
Of more than mortal mien;
When once the happy trance was past
That so my sense did bind
I left my sheep to Him whose care
Was in the western wind;
I left them
for instead of snow
I trod on blade and flower
And ice dissolved in starry rays
At morning’s gracious hour
Revealing where on earth the steps
Of love divine had been:
I hasted to a low-roofed shed
For so the angel bade;
And bowed before the lowly rack
Where love divine was laid:
A newborn babe
like tender lamb
With lion’s strength there smiled
For lion’s strength
immortal might
Was in that newborn Child;
That love divine in childlike form
Had God forever been:
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