“The Vigil of Joseph” by Elsa Barker (poem)

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After the Wise Men went, and the strange star
Had faded out, Joseph the father sat
Watching the sleeping Mother and the Babe,
And thinking stern, sweet thoughts the long night through.

“Ah, what am I, that God has chosen me
To bear this blessed burden, to endure
Daily the presence of this loveliness,
To guide this Glory that shall guide the world?

“Brawny these arms to win Him bread, and broad
This bosom to sustain Her. But my heart
Quivers in lonely pain before that Beauty
It loves—and serves—and cannot understand!”

from The Frozen Grail and Other Poems by Elsa Barker (Duffield & Company, 1910)

Elsa Barker (1869–1954) was a novelist, short story writer, and poet from New England. She lived for extended periods in London and Paris and was a member of the Theosophical Society.