42. The Nativity of our Lady

Summer suns for ever shining.
Flowers and fruits for ever twining,
Silvery waters ever flowing,
Songlike breezes ever blowing.
Shady groves for ever ringing
With a low melodious singmg:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Angels round the Throne adoring,
Newest songs of praise outpouring.
Bursts of wonderful thanksgiving,
Wui snipping the Everliving,
All the vast angelic nations,
Lauding Him with gratulations:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden.
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

God with each untold perfection
Brooding o'er thy sweet election.
Glorified bv wondrous blisses
Stirring in His calm abysses,
As if some new-born emotion
Kipplod His unchanging ocean:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden.
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Blazoning thee with matchless merit,
Wondrous graces on thee raining,
And Their dread complacence deigning
To rest in thee as in no other,
Daughter, Bride, and Sinless Mother:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Thou thyself a world of brightness,
Flower of more than angeVs whiteness,
Ravished now with gladder heaven
Than to angels hath been given,
Grandest worship in creation
Is thine infant jubilation:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Splendor as of pearliest morning
O'er the souls in limbus dawning,
Golden visions hovering o'er them.
Nearer heavens unveiled before them,
Sudden transports newly given
Sweeter than the looked-for heaven:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Joachim and Anna kneeling,
Looks of furtive wonder stealing,
High in ecstasy uplifted,
Father, mother, grandly gifted,
Weeping through excess of gladness
Tears of rapture, not of sadness:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Ah! the first sight of thee sleeping,
And the first sound of thee weeping.
How the breathless Anna listened,
While her rapturous teardrops glistened.
How she almost died of pleasure,
Feeding, fondling thee, her treasure:
Infant JNIary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth.
Little Maiden!

All the joys upon God's mountain
Gushing out from thee, their fountain,
All the gladness of the golden
Hosts to thee alone beholden,
All the songs that men are sino^ino-,
Songs which all were of thy bringing:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
We with all this world of mirth I
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth,
Little Maiden!

Babe of Anna! Little IMaiden!
We with transports overladen.
Spirits full, hearts almost broken,
Joy which cannot be outspoken.
We thy birthday greet, the dawning
Of salvation's happy morning:
Infant Mary! Joy of earth!
AVe with all this world of mirth,
Lighthearted and joy-laden,
Greet the morning of thy birth.
Little Maiden!
Filey, August, 1861.