| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 916. The Birds of Bethlehem |
| | | By Richard Watson Gilder |
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| 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. | |
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| They clung and sung on the swinging chain | 5 |
| High in the dim and incensed air; | |
| The priests, with repetitions vain, | |
| Chanted a never-ending prayer. | |
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| So bell and bird and priest I heard, | |
| But voice of bird was most to me; | 10 |
| It had no ritual, no word, | |
| And yet it sounded true and free. | |
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| I thought Child Jesus, were he there, | |
| Would like the singing birds the best, | |
| And clutch his little hands in air | 15 |
And smile upon his mother’s breast.
BETHLEHEM, Holy Week, 1896. | |
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