Page:Poems Dorr.djvu/423

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THE LEGEND OF THE BABOUSHKA
403
No track to guide her onward,
No footprints in the sand,
Only the vast, still spaces
Wide-stretched on either hand!

Night came—but where the Wise Men
Had seen His burning star,
No glorious sign beheld she
Clear beaming from afar,

Though Orion and Arcturus
Shone bright above her head,
And up the heavenly arches
Proud Mars his legions led!

······

She did not find the Christ-child.
'Tis said she seeks Him still,
Over the wide earth roaming
With swift, remorseful will.

Her thin white locks the dew-fall
Of every clime has wet—
In palace and in hovel
She seeks Messiah yet!

In every child she fancies
The Hidden One may be,
On each bright head she gazes
The mystic crown to see.

She twines the Christmas garlands,
She lights the Christmas fires,
She leads the joyful carols
Of all the Christmas choirs;