Charles L. O’Donnell

“AS I today was wayfaring”—

Holy, Holy, Holy!—low—

Said Christ in heaven’s evening—

The Holies yet more hushed and slow—

“I met a knight upon the road;

A plumed charger he bestrode.

“He saw the beggar that was I—

Holy, Holy, Holy!—long—

Head and foot one beggary—

Holy, Holy, Holy!—song—

One that shivered in the cold

While his horse trailed cloth of gold.

“Down he leaped, his sword outdrawn—

Holy, Holy, Holy!—swells—

Cleaved his cloak, laid half upon—

Holy! now a peal of bells—

Shoulders that the cross had spanned;

And I think he kissed my hand.

“Then he passed the road along,

Holy, Holy, Holy!—laud—

Caroling a knightly song—

Holy! in the face of God.

Yea, Father, by Thy sovereign name,

Begging is a goodly game.”