The women bore their children

The women bore their children

From mountain and field and street;

They bore them thro' the jeering crowd,

And set them at Christ's feet.

And lo, the Twelve rebuked them,

Saying: ' The light is done:

The word is dead on the Master's lips,

And fain is he to be gone.'

But Christ had love for the women

Who gave to him of their share,

And took the children up in his arms,

And covered them with his hair,

And said: ' Let the lambs and the younglings

Be borne into the fold;

For of such is the kingdom of heaven,

And of such is the horn of gold.

'And lo, I take the children,

And mark them with crosses three,

And the pale, dark women, their mothers,

Who ministered unto me.'

Then Christ dreamed awhile in silence,

And wandered into the night:

And his feet were a running river,

And his head a star of light.