Page:A Christmas Faggot (1884, Gurney).djvu/13

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TO

MY GODCHILDREN

ETHEL, ALBINIA,
CYRIL, BASIL,
BERTRAM, WILFRID,
LOUISE, HELEN,
ARTHUR.


When the Angel of the waters
   With a gold and silver wing
Gently stirred the wave baptismal,
   Heard ye not their carolling
Who of old to Eastern shepherds
   Heralded their King?

To the shepherds of His people
   Still those angel-voices tell
How God's river feeds the fountain
   Opened by Emmanuel,
Yielding the baptismal waters
   Of salvation's well.

Children, you have passed those waters.
   Love-begotten from the dead;
Will you make a gallant promise
   When my verses you have read—
'We will trace life's lovely river
   To the Fountain-head'?


Loch Leven : 1884.