ve me a token,
Grant me this favor and grace!

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 descen