C.D. Warner, et al., comp. The Library of the World’s Best Literature.
An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Angel

Translation of John Pollen

THROUGH the midnight heavens an angel flew,

And a soft low song sang he,

And the moon and the stars and the rolling clouds

Heard that holy melody.

He sang of the bliss of sinless souls

’Neath the tents of Eden-bowers;

Of God—the Great One—he sang; and unfeigned

Was his praise of the Godhead’s powers.

A little babe in his arms he bore,

For this world of woe and tears;

And the sound of his song in the soul of the child

Kept ringing, though wordless, for years.

And long languished she on this earth below,

With a wondrous longing filled,

But the world’s harsh songs could not change for her

The notes which that angel trilled.