Alexandra's Nativity prayer for Charles Sydney Gibbes, year 1917

Source:

https://orthodoxlife.org/prayers-and-services/christmas-prayer-empress-alexandra/

Alexandra wrote this Nativity prayer for her children's English tutor Charles Sydney Gibbes during captivity at Tobolsk at Christmas 1917 — the last Christmas she would ever see.

The prayer:

I pray
That Christ the Xmas King may stoop to bless,
And guide you day by day to holiness,
Your Friend in joy, your Comfort in distress;

I pray
That every cloud may lead you to the light,
And He may raise you up from height to height,
Himself the Day-Star of your darkest night;

I pray
That Christ, before whose Crib you bend the knee,
May fill your longing soul abundantly,
With grace to follow Him more perfectly.

1917
Tobolsk

Alexandra

Above: Alexandra.

Above: Charles Sydney Gibbes.