Christ [poem by Agnes Neale]

[Editor: This poem by Agnes Neale was published in Shadows and Sunbeams (1890).]

Christ.

A hope shone through the dark,
A smile of love,
And straightway golden floods of gladness gushed
From God above.

A star gleamed in the night,
A fair white star,
And on its rays sweet Peace came floating down.
From realms afar.

A sun rose o’er the world;
Then fled the night,
And sin’s vile growth of rank pollution shrank
From his clear light.

Hope, star, and sun are One,
One at whose nod
Creation shrivels like a parchment scroll,
Or heaven welcomes back a ransomed soul:
The Christ of God.

Source:
Agnes Neale, Shadows and Sunbeams, Adelaide: Burden & Bonython, 1890, page 1

Editor’s notes:
o’er = over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)