{
 "id": "mary-weston-fordham/the-christ-child",
 "title": "The Christ Child",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Mary Weston Fordham",
 "poet_slug": "mary-weston-fordham",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Magnolia Leaves",
 "book_slug": "magnolia-leaves",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 6,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1897,
  "venue": "Magnolia Leaves (1897)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/magnolialeavespo00ford"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/mary-weston-fordham_magnolia-leaves",
  "file": "magnolia-leaves.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/mary-weston-fordham-magnolia-leaves-full-text-1897-preface-by-booker-t-washington",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006775637"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 51,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "On a starry, wintry night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Frosty and cold was the air,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the lowly vale where Bethlehem stood,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Looked bleak, and barren and bare.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Her streets deserted and dim,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Lit only by myriads of stars,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "That with shimm’ring light illumined the night⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Among them was fiery Mars.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Adown ’mid the valley so drear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Knelt men, in wonder and fear,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For lo! in the distance a bright star had risen",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Wondrously brilliant and clear.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then an Angel’s voice they heard",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In heavenly tones it said,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To you I bring “glad tidings of joy,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“Fear not nor be dismayed.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Go follow that star, ’twill lead",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To the Christ-child’s lowly bed,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Though Israel’s King, He sleeps in an “inn”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where the cattle oft are fed.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then over the humble place",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Where the Royal Babe was laid,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Did the “Star of the East,” blest Bethlehem’s star,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Irradiate no more to fade.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "O! brightest and best they cried,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Our long promised Israel’s King,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Shine out from afar, thou bright morning star,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To thee our offerings we bring.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Bethlehem! blest city of old",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Like pilgrims to Mecca we come,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "To thy hallowed site, on each Christmas night,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The Christ-child’s humble home.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}