A Christmas Faggot/Bethlehem Gate
BETHLEHEM GATE.
A Picture by Dante Gabriel Rossetti.[1]
Of old through gates that closed on them
Two exiles went with eyes downcast;
The Present now retrieves the Past,
God’s Eden is in Bethlehem.
An Eden that no walls enclose
By Mary’s arms encompassèd,
A living shrine, a ’house of bread,’
A very haven of repose.
Behold the Prince of Peace! around
His cradle angry tempests rage;
He needs must go on pilgrimage,
An exile, homeless and discrowned.
And yet, His Rank to designate,
The unquenched Star of Bethlehem
Shines forth, a radiant diadem;
While Angels on His footsteps wait.
E’en now the Father’s Face they see,
A triumph-song e’en now they sing,
And, wondering and worshipping,
Attend His Pilgrim-Family.
Two guard the frowning gateway: one
Is of a solemn countenance;
To him a rapid backward glance
Reveals a massacre begun.
The other, forward gazing, sees
The glory of the age to come,
The fruitfulness of martyrdom,
Of deaths that are nativities.
O weeping mothers, dry your tears!
The Mother whom this canvass shows
Nor fears, nor weeps, although she knows
An anguish deeper than your fears.
She knows a comfort deeper still
For all who fare on pilgrimage;
By suffering from age to age
God seals the vassals of His Will.
Her Burden is upholding her;
And, guided by the Holy Dove,
She sees the victory of Love
Beyond the Cross and Sepulchre.
To shield her, Joseph stands; his care
The shadow of God’s Providence.
How fragrant is the frankincense
Of their uninterrupted prayer!
Through ever-open gates they press,
A new and living way they tread,
So gain they the true ’House of Bread,’
A garden for a wilderness.
A flight it seems to us; to them
It is a going forth to win
The world from Satan and from sin,
And build the New Jerusalem.
Lord Christ! for every seeking soul
Thou art Thyself the Door, the Way;
All, all shall find one coming day
Thy Heart their everlasting goal!
Loch Leven: 1884.