’Twas not a palace proud and fair <br />He chose for His first home; <br />No dazz’ling pile of grandeur rare, <br />With pillar’d hall and dome; <br />Oh no! a stable, rude and poor, <br />Received Him at His birth; <br />And thus was born, unknown, obscure, <br />The Lord of Heaven and Earth. <br /> <br />No band of anxious menials there, <br />To tend the new-born child, <br />Joseph alone and Mary fair <br />Upon the infant smiled; <br />No broidered linens fine had they <br />Those little limbs to fold, <br />No baby garments rich and gay, <br />No tissues wrought with gold. <br /> <br />Come to your Saviour’s lowly bed, <br />Ye vain and proud of heart! <br />And learn with bowed and humbled head <br />The lesson ’twill impart; <br />’Twill teach you not to prize too high <br />The riches vain of earth— <br />But to lay up in God’s bright sky <br />Treasures of truer worth. <br /> <br />And you, poor stricken sons of grief, <br />Sad outcasts of this life, <br />Come, too, and seek a sure relief <br />For your heart’s bitter strife; <br />Enter that village stable door, <br />And view that lowly cot— <br />Will it not teach you to endure, <br />And even bless your lot?<br /><br />Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-stable-of-bethlehem/
