The Germ: Thoughts towards Nature in Poetry, Literature and Art

Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth,

And his wife Mary had an only child,

Jesus: One holy from his mother's womb.

Both parents loved him: Mary's heart alone

Beat with his blood, and, by her love and his,

She knew that God was with her, and she strove

Meekly to do the work appointed her;

To cherish him with undivided care

Who deigned to call her mother, and who loved

From her the name of son. And Mary gave

Her heart to him, and feared not; yet she seemed

To hold as sacred that he said or did;

And, unlike other women, never spake

His words of innocence again; but all

Were humbly treasured in her memory

With the first secret of his birth. So strong

Grew her affection, as the child increased

In wisdom and in stature with his years,

That many mothers wondered, saying: "These

Our little ones claim in our hearts a place

The next to God; but Mary's tenderness

Grows almost into reverence for her child.

Is he not of herself? I' the temple when

Kneeling to pray, on him she bends her eyes,

As though God only heard her prayer through him.

Is he to be a prophet? Nay, we know

That out of Galilee no prophet comes."

But all their children made the boy their friend.

Three cottages that overlooked the sea

Stood side by side eastward of Nazareth.

Behind them rose a sheltering range of cliffs,

Purple and yellow, verdure-spotted, red,

Layer upon layer built up against the sky.

In front a row of sloping meadows lay,

Parted by narrow streams, that rose above,

Leaped from the rocks, and cut the sands below

Into deep channels widening to the sea.

Within the humblest of these three abodes

Dwelt Joseph, his wife Mary, and their child.

A honeysuckle and a moss-rose grew,

With many blossoms, on their cottage front;

And o'er the gable warmed by the South

A sunny grape vine broadened shady leaves

Which gave its tendrils shelter, as they hung

Trembling upon the bloom of purple fruit.

And, like the wreathed shadows and deep glows

Which the sun spreads from some old oriel

Upon the marble Altar and the gold

Of God's own Tabernacle, where he dwells

For ever, so the blossoms and the vine,

On Jesus' home climbing above the roof,

Traced intricate their windings all about

The yellow thatch, and part concealed the nests

Whence noisy close-housed sparrows peeped unseen.

And Joseph had a little dove-cote placed

Between the gable-window and the eaves,

Where two white turtle doves (a gift of love

From Mary's kinsman Zachary to her child)

Cooed pleasantly; and broke upon the ear

The ever dying sound of falling waves.

And so it came to pass, one Summer morn,

The mother dove first brought her fledgeling out

To see the sun. It was her only one,

And she had breasted it through three long weeks

With patient instinct till it broke the shell;

And she had nursed it with all tender care,

Another three, and watched the white down grow

Into full feather, till it left her nest.

And now it stood outside its narrow home,

With tremulous wings let loose and blinking eyes;

While, hovering near, the old dove often tried

By many lures to tempt it to the ground,

That they might feed from Jesus' hand, who stood

Watching them from below. The timid bird

At last took heart, and, stretching out its wings,

Brushed the light vine-leaves as it fluttered down.

Just then a hawk rose from a tree, and thrice

Wheeled in the air, and poised his aim to drop

On the young dove, whose quivering plumage swelled

About the sunken talons as it died.

Then the hawk fixed his round eye on the child,

Shook from his beak the stained down, screamed, and flapped

His broad arched wings, and, darting to a cleft

I' the rocks, there sullenly devoured his prey.

And Jesus heard the mother's anguished cry,

Weak like the distant sob of some lost child,

Who in his terror runs from path to path,

Doubtful alike of all; so did the dove,

As though death-stricken, beat about the air;

Till, settling on the vine, she drooped her head

Deep in her ruffled feathers. She sat there,

Brooding upon her loss, and did not move

All through that day.

And, sitting by her, covered up his face:

Until a cloud, alone between the earth

And sun, passed with its shadow over him.

Then Jesus for a moment looked above;

And a few drops of rain fell on his brow,

Sad, as with broken hints of a lost dream,

Or dim foreboding of some future ill.

Now, from a garden near, a fair-haired girl

Came, carrying a handful of choice flowers,

Which in her lap she sorted orderly,

As little children do at Easter-time

To have all seemly when their Lord shall rise.

Then Jesus' covered face she gently raised,

Placed in his hand the flowers, and kissed his cheek

And tried with soothing words to comfort him;

He from his eyes spoke thanks.

Fast trickling down his face, drop upon drop,

Fell to the ground. That sad look left him not

Till night brought sleep, and sleep closed o'er his woe.

Again there came a day when Mary sat

Within the latticed doorway's fretted shade,

Working in bright and many colored threads

A girdle for her child, who at her feet

Lay with his gentle face upon her lap.

Both little hands were crossed and tightly clasped

Around her knee. On them the gleams of light

Which broke through overhanging blossoms warm,

And cool transparent leaves, seemed like the gems

Which deck Our Lady's shrine when incense-smoke

Ascends before her, like them, dimly seen

Behind the stream of white and slanting rays

Which came from heaven, as a veil of light,

Across the darkened porch, and glanced upon

The threshold-stone; and here a moth, just born

To new existence, stopped upon her flight,

To bask her blue-eyed scarlet wings spread out

Broad to the sun on Jesus' naked foot,

Advancing its warm glow to where the grass,

Trimmed neatly, grew around the cottage door.

And the child, looking in his mother's face,

Would join in converse upon holy things

With her, or, lost in thought, would seem to watch

The orange-belted wild bees when they stilled

Their hum, to press with honey-searching trunk

The juicy grape; or drag their waxed legs

Half buried in some leafy cool recess

Found in a rose; or else swing heavily

Upon the bending woodbine's fragrant mouth,

And rob the flower of sweets to feed the rock,

Where, in a hazel-covered crag aloft

Parting two streams that fell in mist below,

The wild bees ranged their waxen vaulted cells.

As the time passed, an ass's yearling colt,

Bearing a heavy load, came down the lane

That wound from Nazareth by Joseph's house,

Sloping down to the sands. And two young men,

The owners of the colt, with many blows

From lash and goad wearied its patient sides;

Urging it past its strength, so they might win

Unto the beach before a ship should sail.

Passing the door, the ass turned round its head,

And looked on Jesus: and he knew the look;

And, knowing it, knew too the strange dark cross

Laying upon its shoulders and its back.

It was a foal of that same ass which bare

The infant and the mother, when they fled

To Egypt from the edge of Herod's sword.

And Jesus watched them, till they reached the sands.

Then, by his mother sitting down once more,

Once more there came that shadow of deep grief

Upon his brow when Mary looked at him:

And she remembered it in days that came.

And the time passed.

The child sat by himself upon the beach,

While Joseph's barge freighted with heavy wood,

Bound homewards, slowly labored thro' the calm.

And, as he watched the long waves swell and break,

Run glistening to his feet, and sink again,

Three children, and then two, with each an arm

Around the other, throwing up their songs,

Such happy songs as only children know,

Came by the place where Jesus sat alone.

But, when they saw his thoughtful face, they ceased,

And, looking at each other, drew near him;

While one who had upon his head a wreath

Of hawthorn flowers, and in his hand a reed,

Put these both from him, saying, "Here is one

Whom you shall all prefer instead of me

To be our king;" and then he placed the wreath

On Jesus' brow, who meekly bowed his head.

And, when he took the reed, the children knelt,

And cast their simple offerings at his feet:

And, almost wondering why they loved him so,

Kissed him with reverence, promising to yield

Grave fealty. And Jesus did return

Their childish salutations; and they passed

Singing another song, whose music chimed

With the sea's murmur, like a low sweet chant

Chanted in some wide church to Jesus Christ.

And Jesus listened till their voices sank

Behind the jutting rocks, and died away:

Then the wave broke, and Jesus felt alone.

Who being alone, on his fair countenance

And saddened beauty all unlike a child's

The sun of innocence did light no smile,

As on the group of happy faces gone.