Christmas in Poetry

CHRISTMAS

 
While shepherds watch’d their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground,
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
 
 
“Fear not,” said he (for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind);
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.
 
 
“To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born of David’s line
The Saviour who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:
 
 
“The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view display’d,
All meanly wrapt in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.”
 
 
Thus spake the Seraph; and forthwith
Appear’d a shining throng
Of angels, praising God, and thus
Address’d their joyful song:
 
 
“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Good-will henceforth from heaven to men
Begin, and never cease!”
 

Nahum Tate

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
The flags stand in the frozen mere.
 
 
The mistletoe we still adore
Upon the twisted hawthorn grows:
In antique gardens hellebore
Puts forth its blushing Christmas rose.
 
 
Shrivell’d and purple, cheek by jowl,
The hips and haws hang drearily;
Roll’d in a ball the sulky owl
Creeps far into his hollow tree.
 
 
In abbeys and cathedrals dim
The birth of Christ is acted o’er;
The kings of Cologne worship him,
Balthazar, Jasper, Melchior.
 
 
The shepherds in the field at night
Beheld an angel glory-clad.
And shrank away with sore afright.
“Be not afraid,” the angel bade.
 
 
“I bring good news to king and clown,
To you here crouching on the sward;
For there is born in David’s town
A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
 
 
“Behold the babe is swathed, and laid
Within a manger.” Straight there stood
Beside the angel all arrayed
A heavenly multitude.
 
 
“Glory to God,” they sang; “and peace,
Good pleasure among men.”
The wondrous message of release!
Glory to God again!
 
 
Hush! Hark! the waits, far up the street!
A distant, ghostly charm unfolds,
Of magic music wild and sweet,
Anemones and clarigolds.
 

John Davidson

From “Fleet Street Eclogues.” Included by permission of Dodd, Mead and Company.