| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | Waiting | | By Charles Henry Crandall (1858–1923) |
| | | AS little children in a darkened hall | |
| At Christmas-tide await the opening door, | |
| Eager to tread the fairy-haunted floor | |
| Around the tree with goodly gifts for all, | |
| Oft in the darkness to each other call— | 5 |
| Trying to guess their happiness before— | |
| Or knowing elders eagerly implore | |
| To tell what fortune unto them may fall: | |
| |
| So wait we in Time’s dim and narrow room, | |
| And, with strange fancies or another’s thought, | 10 |
| Try to divine before the curtain rise | |
| The wondrous scene; forgetting that the gloom | |
| Must shortly rise from what the ages sought— | |
| The Father’s long-planned gift of Paradise. | | | | |
|
|
