Humility

 I cannot chant the angels’ hymn

As did the hosts of seraphim.

I cannot even cross the wild

As shepherds did, to find the Child.

I cannot shine, a living star,

To guide grave magi from afar.

I have no incense, myrrh, or gold

For gift as had the kings of old.

In all the world there is nowhere

A place so poor, a spot so bare

Save the crude cave at Bethlehem town

Where Christ, my Savior, laid Him down.

Because I am like that mean stall

I may possess Him most of all.

-Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, CSC (1887-1964)

From The Happy Christmas Wind and Other Poems by Sister M. Madeleva; 1936, St. Anthony Guild Press © Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, IN.