A Christmas Sonnet

Wild Earth--where all seems vanity and woe, Old Earth--enmeshed in seasons of belief, Sad Earth--where all the glory that we know Is Man, a half-blind Phoenix, fighting grief-- There was a time when time was overcome, When down the ladder Jacob dreamed about, A Spirit came to find terrestrial home; It nestled in a Child; it came without Our clarions of pomp, without brass praise- A Child, O Earth, a star for inner night, For creatures in a dark and temporal haze, A gift of God, perennial delight. No doubt you trembled, Earth, so great the care In love for Man to give and, giving, share.