When her voice is heard

Warbling through each bird,

And a new-born hope

Throbs through all things infinite in scope.

"Peace on earth and good will!" came the word

Of the Son of Man, the Man of Sorrow—

But the peace turned to a flaming sword,

Turned to woe and wailing on the morrow

When with gibes and scorns,

Crowned with barren thorns,

Gashed and crucified,

On the Cross the tortured Jesus died.

[37]

And the world, once full of flower-hung shrines,

Now forsakes old altars for the new,

Zeus grows faint and Venus' star declines

As Jehovah glorifies the Jew,

He whom—lit with awe—

God-led Moses saw,

Graving with firm hand

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