The Wise Men

Ye happy stars, that o’er the desert wold
Saw Jasper, Melchior, and Balthazar
Bearing rich gifts and offerings from afar
(Sweet Orient spices, gems, and burning gold)
To Bethlehem’s manger, where the Child foretold
By seer and prophet slept beneath his star,--
Fill with glad song the blue depths where ye are,
Singing as sang the morning stars of old!
Lo! once again the wise men from the East,
Crossing the desert and the rolling main
And the high mountains, bid their eyes behold
The glory of the Lord! To his great feast
Thronging they press, the eager, mystic train,
Giving and taking wine and oil untold!