THE BIRDS OF BETHLEHEM. 



I. 



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. 



II. 

 They clung and swung on the swinging chain 



High in the dim and incensed air : 

 The priest, with repetitions vain, 



Chanted a never ending prayer. 



III. 

 So bell and bird and priest I heard, 



But voioe of bird was most to me — 

 It had no ritual, no word. 



And yet it sounded true and free. 



IV. 



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. 



R. W. Gilder, in The Century. 



223 



