Page:Poems Dorr.djvu/378

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A MOTHER-SONG
Sleep, baby, sleep! The Christmas stars are shining,
Clear and bright the Christmas stars climb up the vaulted sky;
Low hangs the pale moon, in the west declining:
Sleep, baby, sleep, the Christmas morn is nigh!

Hush, baby, hush! For Earth her watch is keeping;
Watches and waits she the angels' song to hear;
Listening for the swift rush of their wings downsweeping,
Joy and Peace proclaiming through the midnight clear.

Dream, baby, dream! The far-off chimes are ringing;
Tenderly and solemnly the music soars and swells;
With soft reverberation the happy bells are swinging,
While each to each responsive the same sweet story tells!

Hark, baby, hark! Hear how the choral voices,
All jubilantly singing, take up the glad refrain,
"Unto you is born a Saviour," while heaven with earth rejoices,
And all its lofty battlements re-echo with the strain!

Wake, baby, wake! For, lo! in floods of glory
The Christmas Day advances over the hills of morn!
Wake, baby, wake! and smile to hear the story
How Christ, the Son of Mary, in Bethlehem was born!