IT chanced upon the merry merry Christmas eve, I went sighing past the church across the moorland dreary -- "Oh! never sin and want and woe this earth will leave, And the bells but mock the wailing round, they sing so cheery. How long, O Lord! how long before Thou come again? Still in cellar, and in garret, and on moorland dreary The orphans moan, and widows weep, and poor men toil in vain, Till earth is sick of hope deferred, though Christmas bells be cheery." Then arose a joyous clamor from the wild-fowl on the mere, Beneath the stars, across the snow, like clear bells ringing, And a voice within cried -- "Listen! -- Christmas carols even here! Though thou be dumb, yet o'er their work the stars and snows are singing. Blind! I live, I love, I reign; and all the nations through With the thunder of my judgments even now are ringing. Do thou fulfil thy work but as yon wild-fowl do, Thou wilt heed no less the wailing, yet hear through it angels singing." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO AN ISLE IN THE WATER by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS MUSIC; AND THE SAVAGE BREAST by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE VILLAGE MUNITIONS CO., INC.; FORMERLY THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS WHAT THEY ASK by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS HYMN, COMPOSED FOR THE CHILDREN OF A SUNDAY SCHOOL by BERNARD BARTON DIRGE FOR A YOUNG MAIDEN by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES TO THOMAS MOORE (2) by GEORGE GORDON BYRON |