Gloomy night embraced the place
[.poemindent] Where the Noble Infant lay; [.poemindent]
The Babe looked up and showed his face,
[.poemindent] In spite of darkness, it was day. [.poemindent]
It was thy day, Sweet! and did rise
Not from the east, but from thine eyes.

We saw thee in thy balmy nest,
[.poemindent] Young dawn of our eternal day! [.poemindent]
We saw thine eyes break from their east
[.poemindent] And chase the trembling shades away. [.poemindent]
We saw thee, and we blessed the sight,
We saw thee by thine own sweet light.

Welcome, all wonders in one sight!
[.poemindent] Eternity shut in a span; [.poemindent]
Summer in winter; day in night;
[.poemindent] Heaven in earth, and God in man. [.poemindent]
Great little one, whose all-embracing birth
Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.

[.imgcaption] Mother and Child , Pablo Picasso, 1905, detail
[.smalltext] Image public domain [.smalltext] [.imgcaption]