THE NATIVITY.

BY THE REV. THOMAS DALE, M. A.

A light is kindling o'er the midnight sky,

Of broad unwonted brightness;—the hushed air
Is filled with sounds of strange, sweet melody,
As though an Angel choir were hymning there
Celestial strains ;—and each aërial Power
Had lit the starry lamp within his beacon tower.

And hark! fresh sounds; and lo! the scattered beams
Condense into a wreath of living light;

Pure as the chaste, cold moonbeams, yet more bright
Than the full noontide blaze, behold it streams
Above, around an earthly dwelling-place-

Heaven sheds its purest rays on some of mortal race!