| Jessie B. Rittenhouse, ed. (1869–1948). The Little Book of Modern Verse. 1917. |
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| 157. Hora Christi |
| | | By Alice Brown |
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| SWEET is the time for joyous folk | |
| Of gifts and minstrelsy; | |
| Yet I, O lowly-hearted One, | |
| Crave but Thy company. | |
| On lonesome road, beset with dread, | 5 |
| My questing lies afar. | |
| I have no light, save in the east | |
| The gleaming of Thy star. | |
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| In cloistered aisles they keep to-day | |
| Thy feast, O living Lord! | 10 |
| With pomp of banner, pride of song, | |
| And stately sounding word. | |
| Mute stand the kings of power and place, | |
| While priests of holy mind | |
| Dispense Thy blessed heritage | 15 |
| Of peace to all mankind. | |
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| I know a spot where budless twigs | |
| Are bare above the snow, | |
| And where sweet winter-loving birds | |
| Flit softly to and fro; | 20 |
| There with the sun for altar-fire, | |
| The earth for kneeling-place, | |
| The gentle air for chorister, | |
| Will I adore Thy face. | |
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| Loud, underneath the great blue sky, | 25 |
| My heart shall pæan sing, | |
| The gold and myrrh of meekest love | |
| Mine only offering. | |
| Bliss of Thy birth shall quicken me; | |
| And for Thy pain and dole | 30 |
| Tears are but vain, so I will keep | |
| The silence of the soul. | |
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