Volume 20 — The Better Christmas.

“'Tis not the feast that changes with the ever-changing times,

But these that lightly vote away the glories of the past—

The joys that dream-like haunt me with the merry matin chimes

I loved so in my boyhood, and shall doat on to the last.

“There still is much of laughter, and a measure of old cheer:

The ivy wreaths, if scanty, are as verdant as of yore:

And still the same kind greeting for the universal ear:

But, to me, for all their wishing, 'tis a ‘merry’ feast no more!”

I said: and came an answer from the stars to which I sighed—

Those stars that lit the vigil of the favor'd shepherd band.

And 'twas as if again the heavens open'd deep and wide,

And the carol of the angel-choir new-flooded all the land

“Good tidings still we bring to all who still have ears to hear;

To all who love His coming—the elect that cannot cease;

And louder rings our anthem, to these watchers, year by year,

Its earnest of the perfect joy—the everlasting peace.

“Art thou, then, of these watchers, if thou canst not read the sign?

The world was at its darkest when the blessed Day-star120 shone.

Again 'tis blacker to her beam: and thou must needs repine,

And sicken, so near sunrise, for the moonlight that is gone!”

[pg 529]