Ballade Of Christmas Ghosts
: SIGNIFICANCE AND SPIRITANDREW LANG
Between the moonlight and the fire
In winter twilights long ago,
What ghosts we raised for your desire,
To make your merry blood run slow!
How old, how grave, how wise we grow!
No Christmas ghost can make us chill,
Save those that troop in mournful row,
The ghosts we all can raise at will!
The beasts can t
On Christmas Eve, old legends know.
As year by year the years retire,
We men fall silent then I trow,
Such sights hath memory to show,
Such voices from the silence thrill,
Such shapes return with Christmas snow,--
The ghosts we all can raise at will.
Oh, children of the village choir,
Your carols on the midnight throw,
Oh, bright across the mist and mire,
Ye ruddy hearths of Christmas glow!
Beat back the dread, beat down the woe,
Let's cheerily descend the hill;
Be welcome all, to come or go,
The ghosts we all can raise at will.
ENVOY
Friend, sursum corda, soon or slow
We part, like guests who've joyed their fill;
Forget them not, nor mourn them so,
The ghosts we all can raise at will.
More
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A Ballade Of Old Loves
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And here's a Christmas carol meant for children, and most excellent, and though the monk that wrote it was hung, yet still his verses may be sung. As I in a hoarie winter's night Stood shivering in the snow, Surpriz'd I was with... A Christmas Carmen
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MARTIN LUTHER Good news from heaven the angels bring, Glad tidings to the earth they sing: To us this day a child is given, To crown us with the joy of heaven. This is the Christ, our God and Lord, Who in all need ... A Christmas Hymn
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ANON Written in the Chapel of the Manger, in the Convent Church of Bethlehem, Palestine: In the fields where, long ago, Dropping tears, amid the leaves, Ruth's young feet went to and fro, Binding up the scattered sheav... A Christmas Insurrection
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JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS Sleep, baby, sleep! The Mother sings: Heaven's angels kneel and fold their wings. Sleep, baby, sleep! With swathes of scented hay Thy bed By Mary's hand at eve was spread. ... A Christmas Song
WILLIAM COX BENNETT Blow, wind, blow, Sing through yard and shroud; Pipe it shrilly and loud, Aloft as well as below; Sing in my sailor's ear The song I sing to you, Come home, my sailor true, For Chris... A Christmas Song
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ANNE P.L. FIELD O pulsing earth with heart athrill With infinite creative will! O watchful shepherds in whose eyes Sweet hopes and promises arise! O angel-host whose chanting choir Proclaims fulfillment of desire! ... A Visit From St Nicholas
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MARY MAPES DODGE Oh, the beauty of the Christ Child, The gentleness, the grace, The smiling, loving tenderness, The infantile embrace! All babyhood he holdeth, All motherhood enfoldeth-- ... Ballade Of Christmas Ghosts
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FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL O Christmas, merry Christmas! Is it really come again, With its memories and greetings, With its joy and with its pain? There's a minor in the carol, And a shadow in the light, And ... Brightest And Best Of The Sons Of The Morning
REGINALD HEBER Brightest and best of the Sons of the morning! Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid! Star of the East, the horizon adorning, Guide where our Infant Redeemer is laid! Cold on His cradle the dewdr... Carol
O Child of Mary's tender care! O little Child so pure and fair! Cradled within the manger hay On that divine first Christmas day! The hopes of every age and race Are centered in Thy radiant face! O Child whose glory ... Ceremonies For Christmas
ROBERT HERRICK Come, bring with a noise, My merry, merry boys, The Christmas log to the firing, While my good dame, she Bids ye all be free, And drink to your heart's desiring. With the last year's b... Christ's Nativity
HENRY VAUGHAN Awake, glad heart! get up and sing! It is the Birthday of thy King. Awake! awake! The sun doth shake Light from his locks, and, all the way Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day. ... Christmas
ANON Once in Royal David's city Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother laid her baby In a manger for His bed. Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ that little child. He came down to earth from Heaven... Christmas
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HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW I heard the bells on Christmas Day Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men! And thought how, as the day had come, ... Christmas Bells
ANON There are sounds in the sky when the year grows old, And the winds of the winter blow-- When night and the moon are clear and cold, And the stars shine on the snow, Or wild is the blast and the bitter sleet ... Christmas Bells
JOHN KEBLE Wake me to-night, my mother dear, That I may hear The Christmas Bells, so soft and clear, To high and low glad tidings tell, How God the Father loved us well; How God the Eternal Son Came to undo what... Christmas Carol
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As Joseph was a-waukin' He heard an angel sing, This night shall be the birthnight Of Christ our heavenly King. His birth-bed shall be neither In housen nor in hall, Nor in the place of paradise, But in ... Christmas Carol
Listen, lordings, unto me, a tale I will you tell; Which, as on this night of glee, in David's town befell. Joseph came from Nazareth with Mary, that sweet maid; Weary were they nigh to death, and for a lodging prayed. In the ... Christmas Day
CHARLES WESLEY Hark! the herald angels sing Glory to the new-born King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled. Joyful all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies, With the angelic ho... Christmas In The Olden Time
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HARRIET F. BLODGETT I Oh! holly branch and mistletoe. And Christmas chimes where'er we go. And stockings pinned up in a row! These are thy gifts, December! II And if the year has made thee old, ...