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The stable of the Inn. The VIRGIN and CHILD. Three Gypsy Kings, GASPAR, MELCHIOR, and BELSHAZZAR, shall come in.
GASPAR. HAIL to thee, Jesus of Nazareth! | |
| Though in a manger thou draw breath, | |
| Thou art greater than Life and Death, | |
| Greater than Joy or Woe! | |
| This cross upon the line of life | 5 |
| Portendeth struggle, toil, and strife, | |
| And through a region with peril rife | |
| In darkness shalt thou go! | |
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MELCHIOR. Hail to thee, King of Jerusalem! | |
| Though humbly born in Bethlehem, | 10 |
| A sceptre and a diadem | |
| Await thy brow and hand! | |
| The sceptre is a simple reed, | |
| The crown will make thy temples bleed, | |
| And in thine hour of greatest need, | 15 |
| Abashed thy subjects stand! | |
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BELSHAZZAR. Hail to thee, Christ of Christendom! | |
| O’er all the earth thy kingdom come! | |
| From distant Trebizond to Rome | |
| Thy name shall men adore! | 20 |
| Peace and good-will among all men, | |
| The Virgin has returned again, | |
| Returned the old Saturnian reign | |
| And Golden Age once more. | |
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THE CHILD CHRIST. Jesus, the Son of God, am I, | 25 |
| Born here to suffer and to die | |
| According to the prophecy, | |
| That other men may live! | |
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THE VIRGIN. And now these clothes, that wrapped Him, take | |
| And keep them precious, for his sake; | 30 |
| Our benediction thus we make, | |
| Naught else have we to give. She gives them swaddling-clothes, and they depart. | |
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