At length there came an answer
     Flaming the desolate year,
    A revelation of beauty,
     A more than mortal cheer;

    For afar in the kindly heavens
     The blessed token I saw! 
    And now my life is transfigured,
     And lost in a nameless awe.

    In a nameless awe I wander,
     As one with a joy untold,
    Too great for his own defining,
     Too great for him to withhold.

    But deep in my heart is the secret,
     And in yonder beckoning Star,
    And I must wait for the telling
     Until I can hasten afar,—­

    Until I can find in travel
     A heart akin to mine,
    That day and night is adoring
     And imploring beauty divine.

    And so I will share the gladness
     Which God intends for the world;
    And so will I lift the banner,
     To remain forever unfurled.”

    Hardly had Gaspar ended
     The musing he loved so well,
    When he heard the dreamy tinkle
     Of a distant camel-bell.

    He set his tent in order;
     He brought forth of his best,
    After the Arab custom,
     To welcome the coming guest.

    Who is this eager stranger
     Dismounted so soon at the door? 
    A king from another kingdom,
     Who has traveled the desert o’er,

    In search of the same communion
     That Gaspar was longing for. 
    And before of food he tasted,
     Thus spake King Melchior: 

    “O Gaspar, God hath sent me
     In the light of a peaceful Star,
    To tell thee, my royal brother,
     What my sweet communings are.

    My life has been hid with Nature
     For many a quiet year,
    And in the hearts of my people,
     Whose love hath cast out fear.

    And I have been a dweller
     With God, who is everywhere,
    On earth, in the stars, the Spirit
     Sublimest, calmest, most fair.

    Among his mediators
     And messengers of rest,
    Which fill the earth and the heavens,
     The stars I reckoned the best.

    To the stars I gave my study,
     I watched them rise and set,
    And heard the music of silence
     My soul can not forget;—­

    The music that seemed prophetic
     Of the reign of peace to come,
    When men shall live as lovers
     In the quiet of one dear home.

    But contemplation only
     My heart could not satisfy: 
    I longed for the very presence
     The stars did prophesy,

    And eagerly looked for a token
     Of heaven descended to earth,
    A manifestation to tell me
     The Prince had come to his birth—­

    The Prince to rule the nations,
     The blessed Prince of Peace,
    Through the scepter of whose kingdom
     Confusion and war shall cease.