When September's sun was shining
On the corn-clad mountain-side;
When Engaddi's lonely vineyards
Shone in green and purple pride:
When the broadening moon in autumn
Saw the harvest gathered in;
Then there came the Prince's Daughter,
Mary, without stain of sin.

From the crest of sun-lit mountains
Standing in a desert wild,
Came our Lord's predestined Mother,
Came the sin-destroying Child:
Light unearthly burns around her,
Sign of more than man can see;
Joachim and Anna wonder
What this mystery can be.

For the world such welcome glory,
Till that hour was never seen;
When the heaven-sent angels watching,
Knelt around their infant Queen:
Legions of victorious angels
Guard her with their wings outspread;
Purer light than theirs is streaming
From her little star-crowned head.

Gabriel there beside her kneeleth,
Sent as herald of the Dove;
There the mighty heart of Michael
Throbbeth with its new-found love:
Seeing God, they give their worship
To the Babe o'er whom they bend;
While with them in songs of morning
Earth and heaven their praises blend.

Not as Jesus came, came Mary,
In the wintry days of snow;
But amid the yellow harvest,
In the autumn's golden glow:
Thus September heavy-fruited,
Clad in russet brown and green,
Gave the world its sinless Daughter,
Gave the Church her sun-clothed Queen.