StoryTitle("caps", "St. Christopher of the Gael") ?>
StoryOrigin("center", SmallCapsText("Fiona Macleod") ) ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(111, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Behind the wattle-woven house", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial the Mighty gently crept", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From out a screen of ashtree boughs", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To where a captive white-robe slept.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lightly he moved, as though ashamed;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To right and left he glanced his fears.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial the Mighty was he named", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Though but an untried youth in years—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But tall he was, as tall as he,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "White Dermid of the magic sword,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Or Torcall of the Hebrid Sea", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Or great Cuhoolin of the Ford;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Strong as the strongest, too, he was:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As Balor of the Evil Eye;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "As Fionn who kept the Ulster Pass", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "From dawn till blood-flusht sunset sky.", "") ?>
PagePoem(112, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Much had he pondered all that day", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The mystery of the men who died", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "On crosses raised along the way,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And perished singing side by side.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Modred the chief had sailed the Moyle,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Had reached Iona's guardless-shore,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Had seized the monks when at their toil", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And carried northward, bound, a score.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Some he had thrust into the deep,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To see if magic fins would rise:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Some from high rocks he forced to leap,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To see wings fall from out the skies:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Some he had pinned upon tall spears,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Some tossed on shields with brazen clang,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To see if through their blood and tears", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Their god would hear the hymns they sang.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But when his oarsmen flung their oars,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And laughed to see across the foam", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The glimmer of the highland shores", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And smoke-wreaths of the hidden home,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Modred was weary of his sport.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All day he brooded as he strode", "") ?>
PagePoem(113, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Betwixt the reef-encircled port", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the oak-grove of the Sacred Road.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At night he bade his warriors raise", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seven crosses where the foamswept strand", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lay still and white beyond the blaze", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of the hundred camp-fires of the land.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The women milked the late-come kye,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The children raced in laughing glee;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like sheep from out the fold of the sky", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stars leapt and stared at earth and sea.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At times a wild and plaintive air", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Made delicate music far away:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A hill-fox barked before its lair:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The white owl hawked its shadowy prey.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But at the rising of the moon", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The druids came from grove and glen,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And to the chanting of a rune", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Crucified St. Columba's men.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They died in silence side by side,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But first they sang the evening hymn:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "By midnight all but one had died,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At dawn he too was grey and grim.", "") ?>
PagePoem(114, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "One monk alone had Modred kept,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A youth with hair of golden-red,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who never once had sighed or wept,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Not once had bowed his proud young head.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Broken he lay, and bound with thongs.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thus had he seen his brothers toss", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Like crows transfixed upon great prongs,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Till death crept up each silent cross.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Night grew to dawn, to scarlet morn;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Day waned to firelit, star-lit night:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But still with eyes of passionate scorn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He dared the worst of Modred's might.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When from the wattle-woven house", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial the Mighty softly stepped,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And peered beneath the ashtree boughs", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To where he thought the white-robe slept,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He heard the monk's words rise in prayer.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He heard a hymn's ascending breath—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Christ, Son of God, to Thee I fare", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "This night upon the wings of death.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial the Mighty crossed the space,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He waited till the monk had ceased;", "") ?>
PagePoem(115, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then, leaning o'er the foam-white face,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He stared upon the dauntless priest.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Speak low,\" he said, \"and tell me this:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Who is the king you hold so great?—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Your eyes are dauntless flames of bliss", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Though Modred taunts you with his hate:—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"This god or king, is He more strong", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Than Modred is? And does He sleep", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That thus your death-in-life is long,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And bonds your aching body keep?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The monk's eyes stared in Nial's eyes:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Young giant with a child's white heart,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I see a cross take shape and rise,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And thou upon it nailèd art!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial looked back: no cross he saw", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Looming from out the dreadful night:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yet all his soul was filled with awe,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A thundercloud with heart of light.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Tell me thy name,\" he said, \"and why", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thou waitest thus the druid knife,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And carest not to live or die?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Monk, hast thou little care of life?\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(116, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Great care of that I have,\" he said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And looked at Nial with eyes of fire:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"My life begins when I am dead,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There only is my heart's desire.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial the Mighty sighed. \"Thy words", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Are as the idle froth of foam,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Or clashing of triumphant swords", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When Modred brings the foray home.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"My name is Nial: Nial the Strong:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A lad in years, but as you see", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "More great than heroes of old song", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Or any lordly men that be.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"To Modred have I come from far,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O'er many a hill and strath and stream.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To be a mighty sword in war,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And this because I dreamed a dream:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"My dream was that my strength so great", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Should serve the greatest king there is:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Modred the Pict thus all men rate,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And so I sought this far-off Liss.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"But if there be a greater yet,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A king or god whom he doth fear,", "") ?>
PagePoem(117, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My service he shall no more get,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My strength shall rust no longer here.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The monk's face gladdened. \"Go, now, go;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To Modred go: he sitteth dumb,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And broods on what he fain would know:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And say, 'O King, the Cross is come!'", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Then shall the king arise in wrath,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And bid you go from out his sight,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For if he meet you on his path", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He'll leave you stark and still and white.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Thus shall he show, great king and all,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He fears the glorious Cross of Christ,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And dreads to hear slain voices call", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For vengeance on the sacrificed.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"But, Nial, come not here again:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Long before dawn my soul shall be", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Beyond the reach of any pain", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That Modred dreams to prove on me.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Go forth thyself at dawn, and say", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'This is Christ's holy natal morn,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My king is He from forth this day", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When He to save mankind was born':", "") ?>
PagePoem(118, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Go forth and seek a lonely place", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Where a great river fills the wild;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There bide, and let thy strength be grace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And wait the Coming of a Child.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"A wondrous thing shall then befall:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And when thou seek'st if it be true,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Green leaves along thy staff shall crawl,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With, flowers of every lovely hue.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The monk's face whitened, like sea-foam:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seaward he stared, and sighed \"I go—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Farewell—my Lord Christ calls me home!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial stooped and saw death's final throe.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "An hour before the dawn he rose", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And sought out Modred, brooding, dumb;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"O King,\" he said, \"my bond I close,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Christ I seek: the Cross is come!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Swift as a stag's leap from a height", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Modred drew his dreadful sword:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then as a snow-wraith, silent, white,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He stared and passed without a word.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Before the flush of dawn was red", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A druid came to Nial the Great:", "") ?>
PagePoem(119, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"The doom of death hath Modred said,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Yet fears this Christ's mysterious hate:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"So get you hence, you giant-thewed man:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Go your own way: come not again:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No more are you of Modred's clan:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Go now, forthwith, lest you be slain.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial went forth with gladsome face;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No more of Modred's clan he was:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Now, now,\" he cried, \"Christ's trail I'll trace,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And nowhere turn, and nowhere pause.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He laughed to think how Modred feared", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The wrath of Christ, the monk's white king:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"A greater than Modred hath appeared,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To Him my sword and strength I bring.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All day, all night, he walked afar:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He saw the moon rise white and still:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The evening and the morning star:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The sunrise burn upon the hill.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He heard the moaning of the seas,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The vast sigh of the sunswept plain,", "") ?>
PagePoem(120, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The myriad surge of forest-trees;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saw dusk and night return again.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "At falling of the dusk he stood", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Upon a wild and desert land:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Dark fruit he gathered for his food,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Drank water from his hollowed hand,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cut from an ash a mighty bough", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And trimmed and shaped it to the half:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Safe in the desert am I now,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With sword,\" he said, \"and with this staff.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The stars came out: Arcturus hung", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His ice-blue fire far down the sky:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Great Bear through the darkness swung:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Seven Watchers rose on high.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A great moon flooded all the west.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Silence came out of earth and sea", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And lay upon the husht world's breast,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And breathed mysteriously.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Three hours Nial walked, three hours and more:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then halted when beyond the plain", "") ?>
PagePoem(121, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He stood upon that river's shore", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The dying monk had bid him gain.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A little house he saw: clay-wrought,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of wattle woven through and through:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then, all his weariness forgot,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The joy of drowning-sleep he knew.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Three hours he slept, and then he heard", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A voice—and yet a voice so low", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It might have been a dreaming bird", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Safe-nested by the rushing flow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Almost he slept once more: then, Hush!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Once more he heard above the noise", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And tempest of the river's rush", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The thin faint words of a child's voice.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Good Sir, awake from sleep and dream,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Good Sir, come out and carry me", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Across this dark and raging stream", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Till safe on the other side I be.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Great Nial shivered on his bed:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"No human creature calls this night,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It is a wild fetch of the dead,\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He thought, and shrunk, and shook with fright.", "") ?>
PagePoem(122, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Once more he heard that infant-cry:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Come out, Good Sir, or else I drown—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Come out, Good Sir, or else I die", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And you, too, lose a golden crown.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"A golden crown\"—so Nial thought—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "\"No—no—not thus shall I be ta'en!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Keep, ghost-of-the-night, your crown gold-wrought—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of sleep and peace I am full fain!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Once more the windy dark was filled", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With lonely cry, with sobbing plaint:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial's heart grew sore, its fear was stilled,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "King Christ, he knew, would scorn him faint.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Up, up thou coward, thou sluggard, thou,\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He cried, and sprang from off his bed—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"No crown thou seekest for thy brow,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But help for one in pain and dread!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Out in the wide and lonely dark", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "No fetch he saw, no shape, no child:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Almost he turned again—but hark!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A song rose o'er the waters wild:", "") ?>
PagePoem(123, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A king am I", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Tho' a little Child,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Son of God am I,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Meek and mild,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Beautiful", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Because God hath said", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Let my cup be full", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of wine and bread.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Come to me", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Shaken heart,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Shaken heart!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I will not flee.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My heart", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Is thy heart", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O shaken heart!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stoop to my Cup,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sup,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Drink of the wine:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The wine and the bread,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Saith God,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Are mine—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "My Flesh and my Blood!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Throw thy sword in the flood:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Come, shaken heart:", "") ?>
PagePoem(124, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Fearful thou art!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Have no more fear—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lo, I am here,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The little One,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Son,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Thy Lord and thy King.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "It is I who sing:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christ, your King . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Be not afraid:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Look, I am Light,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A great star", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Seen from afar", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In the darkness of night:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I am Light,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Be not afraid . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wade, wade", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Into the deep flood!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Think of the Bread,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Wine and the Bread", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That are my Flesh and Blood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Cross, cross the Flood,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Sure is the goal . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Be not afraid", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "O Soul,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Be not afraid!", "") ?>
PagePoem(125, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial's heart was filled with joy and pain:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"This is my king, my king indeed:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "To think that drown'd in sleep I've lain", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When Christ the Child-God crieth in need!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Swift from his wattled hut he strode,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Stumbling among the grass and bent,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, seeking where the river flowed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Far o'er the dark flood peered and leant:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then suddenly beside him saw", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A little Child all clad in white:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He bowed his head in love and awe,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then lifted high his burthen light.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "High on his shoulders sat the Child,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While with strong limbs he fared among", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The rushing waters black and wild", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And where the fiercest currents swung.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The waters rose more high, more high,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Higher and higher every yard . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nial stumbled on with sob and sigh,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christ heard him panting sore and hard.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"O Child,\" Nial cried, \"forbear, forbear!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Hark you not how these waters whirled!", "") ?>
PagePoem(126, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The weight of all the earth I bear,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The weary weight of all the world!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Christopher!\" . . . low above the noise,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The rush, the darkness, Nial heard", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The far-off music of a Voice", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That said all things in saying one word—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Christopher . . . this thy name shall be!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christ-bearer is thy name, even so", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Because of service done to me", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Heavy with weight of the world's woe.\"", "") ?>
DisplayImagewithCaption("text", "zpage126", "
", "
", "center", "70",
"2", "2", "[Illustration]", SmallCapsText( "St. Christopher, the Christ-Bearer")) ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With breaking sobs, with panting breath", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christopher grasped a bent-held dune,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Then with flung staff and as in death", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Forward he fell in a heavy swoon.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "All night he lay in silence there,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But safe from reach of surging tide:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "White angels had him in their care,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christ healed and watched him side by side.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "When all the silver wings of dawn", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Had waved above the rose-flusht east,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christopher woke . . . his dream was gone.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The angelic songs had ceased.", "") ?>
PagePoem(127, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Was it a dream in very deed,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "He wondered, broken, trembling, dazed?", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His staff he lifted from the mead", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And as an upright sapling raised.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Lo, it was as the monk had said—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "If he would prove the vision true,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "His staff would blossom to its head", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With flowers of every lovely hue.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christopher bowed: before his eyes", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christ's love fulfilled the holy hour. . . .", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A south-wind blew, green leaves did rise", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the staff bloomed a myriad flower!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Christopher bowed in holy prayer,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While Christ's love fell like healing dew:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "God's father-hand was on him there:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The peace of perfect peace he knew.", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>