"Christmas" by William C. Bryant (1875)

As shadows cast by cloud and sun

Flit o’er the summer grass,

So, in Thy sight, Almighty One,

Earth’s generations pass.

And as the years, an endless host,

Come swiftly pressing on,

The brightest names that earth can boast

Just glisten and are gone.

Yet doth the star of Bethlehem shed

A luster pure and sweet;

And still it leads, as once it led,

To the Messiah’s feet.

O Father, may that holy star

Grow every year more bright,

And send its glorious beams afar

To fill the world with light.