ANNO DOMINI

F. O. SYLVESTER.

The inn is crowded now, the keeper said,
And so, two thousand years ago today,
They turned the mother of our Lord away.
Within a manger near, a baby's bed
She made, and for the coming Christ-child's head
She formed a little pillow of the hay.
At dawn she kissed the lips God taught to pray—
Whose prayers the sick did heal and raised the dead.

O crowded heart, with all thy worldly guests,
Hast thou a quiet place for Christ this morn?
Is there in thee a room unoccupied,
Not filled with self or strife, where no greed rests,
Wherein the child of Spirit may be born?
Oh, then, rejoice, for God is glorified.