Premiered at the 2009 Christmas performances by Chicago Master Singers, this short setting of a marvelous and longlost text was an audience favorite. A very challenging piece for the chorus, with rapidly changing tonalities; there are two divisi spots in the altos and one in the tenors.

Text: The poem was published as a sacred song in 1928, but we have been unable to determine anything about the poet or when it might have been previously published.

They say that Mary treasured
The gift the wise men made:
The gold, the myrrh and incense
Beside the manger laid.
Too rare that gold for spending,
Too rich that spice to pour.
No need could make her squander
That mystic secret store.

But when men turned from Jesus,
When crucified, He died,
The gifts that proved Him royal,
She could no longer hide.
That little store long cherished,
With broken heart she gave:
The gold for finest linen,
The spices for His grave.