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Robert Laurence Binyon - The Wonder Night
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Now danced are all the dances,
 And all the games are done,
 The merry noise, the laughter,
 Feasting and lights and fun;
 The gifts unwrapt and given,
 The forfeits paid and won.

 Now firelight pranks the ceiling
 Above each sleepy head,
 It warms a hand that`s clasping
 The new toy hugged in bed,
 On hair it flickers golden
 And cheeks of rosier red.

 But one who wakes from dreaming,
 For something stirs her mind
 As if in dream persisting
 Some fairy--land to find,
 Steals tip--toe in her night--gown
 And peeps beyond the blind.

 Lo, stars in frosty stillness,
 That hush the heart, so bright
 They sparkle among the branches
 Of the old oak in the night!
 Ten thousand stars, and one star
 Exceeding all in light.

 Her heart beats in the darkness,
 What if, beyond, somewhere
 The shepherds now are shuffling
 Across the common bare,
 The path she knows, by pond and hedge,
 The wonder--sight to share?

 And the Wise Men, are they coming,
 With long beards, furred and stoled,
 The jewelled East behind them,
 Laden with spice and gold?
 She sees them clear, she sees them
 How wise, and oh how old!

 To-night the wise are simple,
 And the old forget to scorn
 The young heart and the foolish;
 The sad are not forlorn.
 Hope holds the world in wonder
 Because a Child is born.
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