Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Christmas Gifts lyrics

The Pope on Christmas Day
 Sit's in Saint Peter’s chair
But the peoples murmur and say
 "Our souls are sick and forlorn
And who will show us where
 Is the stable where Christ was born?"

The star is lost in the dark
 The manger is lost in the straw
The Christ cries faintly hark!
 Through bands that swaddle and strangle
But the Pope in the chair of awe
 Looks down the great quadrangle

The Magi kneel at his foot
 Kings of the East and West
But, instead of the angels (mute
 Is the "Peace on earth" of their song)
The peoples, perplexed and opprest
 Are sighing "How long, how long?"

And, instead of the kine, bewilder in
 Shadow of aisle and dome
The bear who tore up the children
 The fox who burnt up the corn
And the wolf who suckled at Rome
 Brothers to slay and to scorn

Cardinals left and right of him
 Worshippers round and beneath
The silver trumpets at sight of him
 Thrill with a musical blast:
But the people say through their teeth
 "Trumpets? we wait for the Last!"

He sit's in the place of the Lord
 And asks for the gifts of the time
Gold, for the haft of a sword
 To win back Romagna averse
Incense, to sweeten a crime
 And myrrh, to embitter a curse

Then a king of the West said "Good!
 I bring thee the gifts of the time
Red, for the patriot’s blood
 Green, for the martyr’s crown
White, for the dew and the rime
 When the morning of God comes down"

O mystic tricolor bright!
 The Pope’s heart quailed like a man’s
The cardinals froze at the sight
 Bowing their tonsures hoary:
And the eyes in the peacock-fans
 Winked at the alien glory

But the peoples exclaimed in hope
 "Now blessed be he who has brought
These gifts of the time to the Pope
 When our souls were sick and forlorn
And here is the star we sought
 To show us where Christ was born!"