Christmas in Poetry

THE STORY OF THE SHEPHERD

It was the very noon of night: the stars above the fold,
More sure than clock or chiming bell, the hour of midnight told:
When from the heav’ns there came a voice, and forms were seen to shine
Still bright’ning as the music rose with light and love divine.
With love divine, the song began; there shone a light serene:
O, who hath heard what I have heard, or seen what I have seen?

O ne’er could nightingale at dawn salute the rising day
With sweetness like that bird of song in his immortal lay:
O ne’er were woodnotes heard at eve by banks with poplar shade
So thrilling as the concert sweet by heav’nly harpings made;
For love divine was in each chord, and filled each pause between:
O, who hath heard what I have heard, or seen what I have seen?

I roused me at the piercing strain, but shrunk as from the ray
Of summer lightning: all around so bright the splendour lay.
For oh, it mastered sight and sense, to see that glory shine,
To hear that minstrel in the clouds, who sang of Love Divine,
To see that form with bird-like wings, of more than mortal mien:
O, who hath heard what I have heard, or seen what I have seen?

When once the rapturous trance was past, that so my sense could bind,
I left my sheep to Him whose care breathed in the western wind:
I left them, for instead of snow, I trod on blade and flower,
And ice dissolved in starry rays at morning’s gracious hour,
Revealing where on earth the steps of Love Divine had been:
O, who hath heard what I have heard, or seen what I have seen?

I hasted to a low-roofed shed, for so the Angel bade;
And bowed before the lowly rack where Love Divine was laid:
A new-born Babe, like tender Lamb, with Lion’s strength there smiled;
For Lion’s strength immortal might, was in that new-born Child;
That Love Divine in child-like form had God for ever been:
O, who hath heard what I have heard, or seen what I have seen?

    Translated from the Spanish

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

When Christ was born in Bethlehem,
’Twas night but seemed the noon of day:
The star whose light
Was pure and bright,
Shone with unwav’ring ray;
But one bright star,
One glorious star
Guided the Eastern Magi from afar.

Then peace was spread throughout the land;
The lion fed beside the lamb;
And with the kid,
To pastures led,
The spotted leopard fed
In peace, in peace
The calf and bear,
The wolf and lamb reposed together there.

As shepherds watched their flocks by night,
An angel brighter than the sun
Appeared in air,
And gently said,
“Fear not, be not afraid,
Behold, behold,
Beneath your eyes,
Earth has become a smiling Paradise.”

    Translated from the Neapolitan

THE GOLDEN CAROL

(Of Melchior, Balthazar, and Caspar, the Three Kings)

We saw the light shine out a-far,
On Christmas in the morning.
And straight we knew Christ’s Star it was,
Bright beaming in the morning.
Then did we fall on bended knee,
On Christmas in the morning,
And prais’d the Lord, who’d let us see
His glory at its dawning.

Oh! every thought be of His Name,
On Christmas in the morning,
Who bore for us both grief and shame,
Afflictions sharpest scorning.
And may we die (when death shall come),
On Christmas in the morning,
And see in heav’n, our glorious home,
The Star of Christmas morning.

    Old Carol

CHRISTMAS EVE

In holly hedges starving birds
Silently mourn the setting year;
Upright like silver-plated swords