I do remember how that God came down,
Clad as a Man, and walked this sinful earth;
I do remember how His love was shown
Wherever there was sorrow, or was dearth;
Wherever there was anguish, woe, or death,
The breeze came perfumed with the Sacred Breath.
Not to great palaces with frescoed walls,
Of marble, ivory, gold, and jewels rare;
Not to the many vassaled serving halls;
Not to the kingly crown and regal fare. —
No: born into a stable and did die—
Thrust out from all the world, athwart the sky!
He loosed the prisoner from his noisome den;
He made the woes of poverty rejoice;
The blind’s blear-eye received its sight again;
The dumb did trill His praise in new-found voice:
The widow found again her death-struck boy;
The stricken mourning heart trilled high for joy.
His trailing garments shed a fragrance round,
“Myrrh, Cassia, and Aloes,” o’er our Race;
His sacred brow with dignity was crowned;
That Dignity whose charm was in its grace:
At wedding feast the “best wine last” He gave;
And tears of sympathy, when at the grave.
Lo, Calvary’s rugged head is crowned with woe!
And Heaven frowns upon it from above;
And Hell rears up in Malice from below;
As human hate surrounds the Man of Love,
And when He died all nature felt the pain;
With shuddering woe the rocks are reft in twain!
— J. C. Bayly.