No word had he of complaint to make,
Though every bone in his hide did ache.
A glorious light shone through the stall,
And Christ the Lord stood among them all.
There gleamed on His Hands, and Feet, and Side,
The Holy Wounds of the Crucified.
The beasts feared man, but they loved their God,
And bent glad heads to the earth He trod,
"Wailings swept over the glassy sea,
The cry of God's beasts came up to Me,
"Truly I know that your stripes be sore —
Have ye forgotten the stripes I bore?
"Yet it is written, ''Twixt birth and death
The whole of Creation travaileth.'
"These men do evil unwittingly.
Shall we not pity them—I and ye?"
And the dear Christ's eyes were filled with tears
As He touched the donkey's velvet ears,
And saw on the rope-galled, blow-scarred back,
The Sign of Redemption traced in black.
108
