Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Katharine Tynan Hinkson b. 186–

Singing Stars

“WHAT sawest thou, Orion, thou hunter of the star-lands,

On that night star-sown and azure when thou cam’st in splendor sweeping,

And amid thy starry brethren from the near lands and the far lands

All the night above a stable on the earth thy watch wert keeping?”

“Oh, I saw the stable surely, and the young Child and the Mother,

And the placid beasts still gazing with their mild eyes full of loving.

And I saw the trembling radiance of the Star, my lordliest brother,

Light the earth and all the heavens as he kept his guard unmoving.

“There were kings that came from Eastward with their ivory, spice, and sendal,

With gold fillets in their dark hair, and gold broidered robes and stately,

And the shepherds, gazing star-ward, over yonder hill did wend all,

And the silly sheep went meekly, and the wise dog marvelled greatly.

“Oh we knew, we stars, the stable held our King, His glory shaded,

That His baby hands were poising all the spheres and constellations;

Berenice shook her hair down, like a shower of stardust braided,

And Arcturus, pale as silver, bent his brows in adorations.

“The stars sang all together, sang their love-songs with the angels,

With the Cherubim and Seraphim their shrilly trumpets blended.

They have never sung together since that night of great evangels,

And the young Child in the manger, and the time of bondage ended.”