The summer dawn came over-soon,
The earth was like hot iron at noon
         In Nazareth;
There fell no rain to ease the heat,
And dusk drew on with tired feet
         And stifled breath.

The shop was low and hot and square,
And fresh-cut wood made sharp the air,
         While all day long
The saw went tearing thru the oak
That moaned as tho’ the tree’s heart broke
         Beneath its wrong.

The narrow street was full of cries,
Of bickering and snarling lies
         In many keys—
The tongues of Egypt and of Rome
And lands beyond the shifting foam
         Of windy seas.

Sometimes a ruler riding fast
Scattered the dark crowds as he passed,
         And drove them close
In doorways, drawing broken breath
Lest they be trampled to their death
         Where the dust rose.

There in the gathering night and noise
A group of Galilean boys
         Crowding to see
Gray Joseph toiling with his son,
Saw Jesus, when the task was done,
         Turn wearily.

He passed them by with hurried tread
Silently, nor raised his head,
         He who looked up
Drinking all beauty from his birth
Out of the heaven and the earth
         As from a cup.

And Mary, who was growing old,
Knew that the pottage would be cold
         When he returned;
He hungered only for the night,
And westward, bending sharp and bright,
         The thin moon burned.

He reached the open western gate
Where whining halt and ***** wait,
         And came at last
To the blue desert, where the deep
Great seas of twilight lay asleep,
         Windless and vast.

With shining eyes the stars awoke,
The dew lay heavy on his cloak,
         The world was dim;
And in the stillness he could hear
His secret thoughts draw very near
         And call to him.

Faint voices lifted shrill with pain
And multitudinous as rain;
         From all the lands
And all the villages thereof
Men crying for the gift of love
         With outstretched hands.

Voices that called with ceaseless crying,
The broken and the blind, the dying,
         And those grown dumb
Beneath oppression, and he heard
Upon their lips a single word,
         “Come!”

Their cries engulfed him like the night,
The moon put out her placid light
         And black and low
Nearer the heavy thunder drew,
Hushing the voices . . . yet he knew
         That he would go.

A quick-spun thread of lightning burns,
And for a flash the day returns—
         He only hears
Joseph, an old man bent and white
Toiling alone from morn till night
         Thru all the years.

Swift clouds make all the heavens blind,
A storm is running on the wind—
         He only sees
How Mary will stretch out her hands
Sobbing, who never understands
         Voices like these.