TUB VIGIL OF ST. FRANCIS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1415, 24 December 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

TUB VIGIL OF ST. FRANCIS.

Christmas Eve, 1223. In twilight lands of me liteval legend, Dreaming I wandered, by one vision led— The shadowy figure of the dear St. Francis, Born in Assisi, in Assisi dead. I heard the bells ring clear across the midnight ; The Holy Nigbfc vras dying into morn, And wild and glad they rang aud swung rejoicing, Singing of Christ, the babe in Bethlehem born ; But clearer, nearer than the bell's sweet clangour, Rolled through the distance oE the centuries dim The deep strong chorus of the chanting friars, Who sang in Grecia their Christmas by mu. They gathered with St. Francis round the manger — • " ■'T'.vas Cbristmas eve, six hundred years ago— And hia worn hands had laid each beam and rafter, And thatched the little shed, so poor and low, Where, in amongst the church's shadowy columns They decked with rustling straw the dear Lord's bed — • And, gently urging, through the widj arched portals, The patient oxen and the ass they led. The writhing clouds of incense, rolling up. ward, Crossed the high altar, with its lights aflame; With Qiclu ring tot ch, and glare o£ crescent nres, Crowding afoot the wondering peasants came. They sang the Mass, a stormy rush o£ voices, Strong as the passion of the wind and sea ; And clear and tender, when the rest wc;e silent, St. Francis sang of the Nativity.

The Gospel anil tiie Canticles were ended, The crowd passed slowly from tho manger* side, Leavingthe lonely tapers burning by ifc, And the m<-ek cattle watching, patienteyed. The last dull echo of their footsteps lingered And died on the deep silence* dim and cliill ; But hushed before the image of the cradle, Dreaming and praying, stood St. Fianeig still. He gazed, till the rude shed his hands "bad builded Seemed, in his vision, Bethlehem's grotto cold ; In the dim light he saw the Virgin M ther, And msld Sc. Joseph ktieeliii.,', ■ ■ .y and old. And then— O call it neither . 111 fancy ! — A vaster wond'T bro->Mo " ■ Empty no longer stood t 1.; manger, For lo 1 the Child lay t : iere I The night grew gray, the <!:uvn - ;. . < heaven ; In the dim church th v . , ; And still St. Francis ke|>r •« s liapt and adoring, by the in 1 . . 1 Until the first broad arrows of in<- <■ i Smote all the painted windows ini<» n,. , And keen with frost and crowned with gulden splendors, Over the bills the rosy morning came. Long, long ago that Christmas vision fadedDead, with the night, its living breath and bloom ; And the fair legend, like a faded flower, Lies with the dust upon St. Francis' tomb. Yet, year by year, in lonely hillside cbapels And columned aisles of old cathedra'sdim — Ringed round with light, and wrapped in rolling incense, HE finds the Bethlehem cradle decked for Him. And who shall aay, He comes no more to fill it? Who like St. Francis loves, like him shal" see Tne Eyes that smiled upon the breast of Mary g The Hands that stretched so wide ou Calvary 1 Still, year by year, He comes, a child in meekness, Long as the waves of Time shall ebb awayf And loving hearts enshrine Him and adorf Him, New-born on earth with every Christmaf Dayl G. A. Davis.

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