You come when we're not ready on ways we've not made straight: We haven't cleared the temple or opened wide the gate. We have not stirred the embers, and see! the hour is late. O portals, lift your heads up: The king of glory waits! We were expecting heralds and harbingers of war: the armiesof our generals advancing score on score. Not this, so weak and tender, so helpless on the straw. Cry out the word, O sentries! Grow higher, ancient doors! For though we come but halfway with feeble hands and knees upon our crooked pathways, you run our hopes to meet. Both lower than the valleys and higher than the peaks, who were and are and shall be, find us before we seek!

Cornelis Massijs – Arrival of the Holy Family in Bethlehem – WGA14256 – Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15497722