C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
A Birthday
By William Watson (1858–1935)
From ‘The Purple East’
I
Full long ago He lay with steeds in stall,
And universal Nature heard through all
Her borders that the reign of Pan must cease.
The fatness of the land, the earth’s increase,
Cumbers the board; the holly hangs in hall;
Somewhat of her abundance Wealth lets fall,—
It is the birthday of the Prince of Peace.
The dead rot by the wayside; the unblest
Who live, in caves and desert mountains lurk
Trembling,—his foldless flock, shorn of their fleece.
Women in travail, babes that suck the breast,
Are spared not. Famine hurries to her work:
It is the birthday of the Prince of Peace.