Huzza!

Waes-hael for knight and dame!

   O merry be their dole!

Drink-hael! in Jesu's name

   We fill the tawny bowl;

But cover down the curving crest,

Mould of the Orient Lady's breast.

Waes-hael! yet lift no lid:

   Drain ye the reeds for wine.

Drink-hael! the milk was hid

   That soothed that Babe divine;

Hush'd, as this hollow channel flows,

He drew the balsam from the rose.

Waes-hael! thus glow'd the breast

   Where a God yearn'd to cling;

Drink-hael! so Jesu press'd

   Life from its mystic spring;

Then hush and bend in reverent sign

And breathe the thrilling reeds for wine.

Waes-hael! in shadowy scene

   Lo! Christmas children we:

Drink-hael! behold we lean

   At a far Mother's knee;

To dream that thus her bosom smiled,

And learn the lip of Bethlehem's Child.

Robert Stephen Hawker