The Birds of Bethlehem

I heard the bells of Bethlehem ring— Their voice was sweeter than the priests’; I heard the birds of Bethlehem sing Unbidden in the churchly feasts. They clung and sung on the swinging chain High in the dim and incensed air; The priests, with repetitions vain, Chanted a never-ending prayer. So bell and bird and priest I heard, But voice of bird was most to me; It had no ritual, no word, And yet it sounded true and free. I thought Child Jesus, were he there, Would like the singing birds the best, And clutch his little hands in air And smile upon his mother’s breast. BETHLEHEM, Holy Week, 1896.

Collection: 
English
Richard Watson Gilder

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