Hope

Hope
By Mabel Porter Pitts
51

Out somewhere from the darkness of the East
Three travelers come;
Content in what they fail to understand
Each moves across the heat-veiled desert sand
As though he held a chart within his hand;
Their fervor, by each hardship but increased,
Makes question dumb

These, strong in forceful trust of some strange power
To guide aright,
Oft see a vision fill the star-lit wild
Where shine the features of the Virgin, mild;
They kneel in worship to the King, her child,
And trembling cry, ere comes the natal hour,
“Behold the light!”

Thus, on each barren life there shines some star
To cheer its night,
Some force deep sprung from sources that will win
Hearts back to hope, although there lies within
But rotting wrecks of glories that have been
Thus each soul through the darkness finds afar
The guiding light